My world view changed forever when, after 20 years in the Foreign Office, I saw colleagues I knew and liked go along with Britain’s complicity in the most terrible tortures, as detailed stunningly in the recent Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee Report. They also went along with keeping the policy secret, deliberately disregarding all normal record taking procedures, to the extent that the Committee noted:
131. We note that we have not seen the minutes of these meetings either: this causes us great concern. Policy discussions on such an important issue should have been minuted. We support Mr Murray’s own conclusion that were it not for his actions these matters may never have come to light.
The people doing these things were not ordinarily bad people; they were just trying to keep their jobs, comforting themselves with the thought that they were only civil servants obeying orders. Many were also actuated by the nasty “patriotism” that grips in time of war, as we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Almost nobody in the FCO stood up against the torture or against the illegal war – Elizabeth Wilmshurst, Carne Ross and I were the only ones to leave over it.
I then had the still more mortifying experience of the Foreign Office seeking to punish my dissent by bringing a series of accusations of gross misconduct – some of them criminal – against me. The people bringing the accusations knew full well they were false. The people investigating them knew they were false from about day 2. But I was put through a hellish six months of trial by media before being acquitted on all the original counts (found guilty of revealing the charges, whose existence was an official secret!). The people who did this to me were people I knew.
I had served as First Secretary in the British Embassy in Poland, and bumped up startlingly against the history of the Holocaust in that time, including through involvement with organising the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. What had struck me most forcibly was the sheer scale of the Holocaust operation, the tens of thousands of people who had been complicit in administering it. I could never understand how that could happen – until I saw ordinary, decent people in the FCO facilitate extraordinary rendition and torture. Then I understood, for the first time, the banality of evil or, perhaps more precisely, the ubiquity of evil. Of course, I am not comparing the scale of what happened to the Holocaust – but evil can operate on different scales.
I believe I see it again today. I do not believe that the majority of journalists in the BBC, who pump out a continual stream of “Corbyn is an anti-semite” propaganda, believe in their hearts that Corbyn is a racist at all. They are just doing their job, which is to help the BBC avert the prospect of a radical government in the UK threatening the massive wealth share of the global elite. They would argue that they are just reporting what others say; but it is of course the selection of what they report and how they report it which reflect their agenda.
The truth, of which I am certain, is this. If there genuinely was the claimed existential threat to Jews in Britain, of the type which engulfed Europe’s Jews in the 1930’s, Jeremy Corbyn, Billy Bragg, Roger Waters and I may humbly add myself would be among the few who would die alongside them on the barricades, resisting. Yet these are today loudly called “anti-semites” for supporting the right to oppose the oppression of the Palestinians. The journalists currently promoting those accusations, if it came to the crunch, would be polishing state propaganda and the civil servants writing railway dockets. That is how it works. I have seen it. Close up.
That evil is ubiquitous, even an American Conservative preacher admits:
‘What If Everything We’ve Been Told About Recent History Is a Lie?’:
‘https://russia-insider.com/en/history/what-if-everything-weve-been-told-about-recent-history-lie/ri24235
A very useful addition to growing awareness.
Out of curiosity I pondered a few months ago on this site whether the theft of Palestinian land and resources to construct illegal settlements might be a plan to provide holiday homes for Russian dual passport holders (a little Winter sun and all that). The resident trolls went berserk. Had I perchance touched a raw nerve?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/01/mike-huckabee-israeli-occupied-west-bank-efrat-holiday-home
The article you linked to offers precisely nothing on that subject.
I was in a pub and went to sit on a stool and someone said “that’s my stool”! Being generally easy going I said “Oh sorry” and went to sit on another stool! The same voice said “that’s my stool” so although a bit vexed I said “Oh sorry” and went to sit on another stool and the same thing happened again. What do you do, walk away or swear or both or stand your ground. I.e. You try to be accommodating as no normal person would keep saying “its my stool” if it wasn’t would they, unless of course there are some people who want to start a fight and blame you for it, all, allegedly, over a stool.
Lend an ear.
Main topic on weekly media review on the John Beattie show (BBC Radio Shortbread) will be the takedown of WoS, YouTube site. BBC corporate / legal in London still refusing to cooperate with investigation. Could be interesting.
Yes its blatant political censorship by the BBC’s lawyers, who know fine well YouTube’s three-strike policy.
Unsurprisingly no unionist YouTube content regarding BBC content came into the crosshairs of the BBC’s intellectual lawyers.
On the upside Wings has received a fair bit of media coverage over the past few days. As for the Wings YouTube channel, now back up, hopefully the Streisand Effect will kick in, and more folk will take peek at it.
Unionist Scott Arthur looks to be involved in the unjust, and unnotified complaint against Wings videos.
So Nato has launched a Facebook game to try and counter predominantly fake or false Russian news and information, anything to up the image of the Russian bogeyman, to keep
arms sales and the 2% military spending
commitment alive.
It reminds me of the CIA’s involvement in the production of an animated film of the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. It was made to ridicule Communists during the Cold war. Sadly Orwell who died in 1950, didn’t live to see the 1954 production of his Animal Farm work.
While NATO is making facebook games, Russia and China are building bridges.
Meanwhile at facebook: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/01/facebook-security-chief-alex-s.html
“Facebook does not plan to appoint a successor for chief security officer.
“We expect to be judged on what we do to protect people’s security, not whether we have someone with a certain title.””
Well that has sorted that out.
I must admit that I haven’t been following the news regarding the relations between Russia and China but ‘building bridges’ sounds good. I think the US should take note because if they don’t do the same, the US empire is going to be in big trouble if they make enemies in the face of such a huge opposition – and who knows what will happen to the rest of the world?
Loony is absolutely right. The very same people who hurl the accusation of racism at anyone who dares to oppose mass-immigration or criticise Islam (remember Craig’s “All concern about immigration is racist”), are now complaining about being called racist.
Suck. It. Up.
Mass immigration is a fact of life. Get used to it already.
Don’t want so much ? Try not bombing other places. Supprting capitalist invasions etc.
& In reality it means racism. All the yellow fish in the yellow bowl, all the blue fish in a blue bowl. That’s where this is going, ethnic “cleansing”.
Those who “hurl” it at the right are correct. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1ed3HgHUZM
I haven’t bombed anybody. And I haven’t supported any capitalist invasions. The ones behind those things aren’t the ones at the blunt end of mass immigration.
Do you pay tax?
& No, they are not.
Yes, I pay tax. I’d have the bailiffs round if I didn’t. I don’t get a choice in the matter. Your point is?
I totally agree Tony, the same for me.
Mass immigration certainly is not a fact of life, and most of those people trying to get from Calais to England are from Sub Saharan Africa, where they have their own wars.
The simple fact is that the UK, particularly Southern England is full up, and our public services are falling apart.
Still, the politicians in their ivory towers, and the Gary Linekers on £1.4 million a year never get to see the reality of what we the masses face.
Yes it is, Or you wouldn’t be here.
@Ishmael,
In your perfect world how many immigrants can the UK/England/South of England accomodate?
You are very quick with the attempted witty one liners, so now let us hear your padded out version where you describe the necessary measures we have to put in place to deal with another 10, 20, 50 million people?
“The simple fact is that the UK, particularly Southern England is full up”
explain how you calculated that particular ‘fact’
The exponential function is a fact of mathematics. Get used to that and understand its implications and you might learn something.
Luckily you are on fertile territory as a number of your ilk have recently begun to identify mathematics as a racist construct – all bodes well for the future!!
You have a number of problems – you have declared war on nature and you have declared war on science. Both wars you are doomed to lose. On your goose stepping march to the Stalingrad of Science you will meet some extremely unpleasant people – so that is something else you can get used to.
I am not sure what to are referring to when you mention exponential. If this is related to Malthus, his argument was that food resources were finite and increased arithmetically, whereas population tendency is to increase geometrically, this inevitably means that the human population will outstrip our ability to produce enough food.
Is that what you mean? If so you might like to take a gander at: . https://philosophynow.org/issues/125/Hail_Malthus where the problems with the theory are discussed.
Otherwise I need futher clarification to understand what you mean.
I am with Professor Bartlett on this issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI1C9DyIi_8
It is quite long, but runs through the gamut of mathematics, fake news, war, pestilence, famine, and immigration . It is hard to see how anyone can argue with this thesis – so naturally they don’t and simply ignore it.
I have just watched Professor Bartlett’s Lecture, and I can’s see any major problem with it, people tend to believe that technology can save us from the problems we’ve created, The contrary viewpoint I’ve already seen, notably the work of Hans Rosling who died last year. I am a pessimist, Bartlett is more my cup of tea. I am already aware that the call for a zero growth rate has been rejected by just about everyone. At some point the crunch will come, it is difficult to believe that the ensuing struggle between the have and have nots will be very unpleasent.
asymptotic curves are more nature’s reality: exponential growth, then asymptotic approach to a maximum.
Scaremongers fail to understand this.
[ Mod: You also posted on this thread as Ezekiel. From the moderation rules for commenters:
Sockpuppetry.
…. the adoption of multiple identities within the same thread is not to be allowed.
Please use one identity only. ]
—
This is true for (just about) everything except finance.
Debt/paper(digital) ‘wealth’ (two sides of the same plundering coin – grow exponentially due to compounding interest –
Until, that is, the run up against the arithmetic progression that is the ability to service these from the real economy.
– Fictitious Capital.
This simple fact lies at the root of the plunder, war, ecocide and galloping fascism we are currently witnessing in a desperate effort to make reality conform to a mathematical fiction.
What Loony is insinuating is that a ‘number of our ilk are making up constructs he likes to see’.
Mathmatics has developed from an Arabian, not western, innovative thinking process.
You, Loony, have declared war on everyone, you are here to divide abd obtuse.
Hence, you will taste whatever dish you are serving here.
You are an absolute classic.
Who cares who developed mathematics. It is either true or it is false. It does not become either true or false as a consequence of the ethnic origin of the person developing or utilizing mathematical thinking.
The price of bread in the UK has risen by 11,000% in the past 100 years.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2950798/Price-loaf-bread-rises-11-000-past-100-years-thanks-inflation-says-Lloyds.html
If you think that this is just a construct that I have invented then please buy as much bread as you can eat for 1d. If no bread making price gouging capitalist will sell you bread for 1d then please eat as many constructs as you can invent in your own mind – but be careful not to put on too much weight, the calorie content of constructs may vary.
“The price of bread in the UK has risen by 11,000% in the past 100 years.”
The article you link to is all about inflation. Which means that, effectively, the price of bread has hardly changed at all relative to everything else.
The Mathematics of true and false was developed in the 1840s by an original British thinker. Ever heard of Boolean Algebra?
There are 10 kinds of people,
those who know binary and those who don’t.
The strange thing is that people who like to throw around the “racism!” accusation to anyone not throwing down the welcome mat to all and sundry, seem utterly incapable of rationally discussing the subject.
I’ve tried a number of time to times to get a sensible answer about the population capacity of the UK, for instance. Had plenty of nonsense and insults, plus a lot of pretending the question was never asked. Nothing substantial, though.
Grown-ups ought should answer questions such as “How much will it cost?” and “How will we pay for it?” when they propose an action. If they have no idea, and feel it incumbent upon others to meet whatever burden they propose, it’s hard to accept they’ve got much of a case.
There is a tendency to look at immigration in some simplistic terms:
1. The racists say the are the other and they will swamp us.
2. The capitalist says: good it will get us cheap labour.
3. The globalists say: we believe in free movement of capital but not people.
4. The liberals say yes OK but how much can we take in and how much will it cost.
5. The humanitarian do gooders and some leftists say, can’t have enough of it.
6. The anti-war pacifists say stop bombing others and it will all go away.
And the truth is far more complicated than any of these taken individually.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mV3dJl_-KY
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”. Robert Frost.
Global Footprinting based on productive land capacities (but not complex enough to factor in waste, disasters and degradation of soil, water or air) puts the UK’s agriculturally sustainable population with current consumption at around 15 million. That is, a population these islands last carried well before the first census and so perhaps 200 years ago or more. The UK population has almost doubled in one (if especially long) human lifespan. It is insanity.
The UK is currently in carrying capacity overshoot of around 380%. The UK imports over half of its food.
Never mind, though. A technological messiah will surely come and the calorific carrying capacity of the Earth will quadruple… so shrugs the mindless faith that these circumstances are sustainable.
Risk: Thank you for the only sensible comment I’ve seen on this subject in a very long time.
We are heading down a blind alley to oblivion within a matter of generations, and nobody appears to want to address it. As long as rights to full immigration are supported, along with the rights to an unlimited number of children, as a human right, we are absolutely and utterly screwed. Not only as a country, but as a species.
Nobody on the right or left of our political commentary space appears to be in the least bit concerned, that their own grandchildren are unlikely to live a full lifetime due to environmental degradation.
It really is quite unbelievable.
“The power of population is so superior to the power in the earth to produce subsistence for woman poop, that premature death must in some shape or other vist the human race…”
Thomas Malthus
— An Essay on The Principle of Population, Chapter VII, paragraph 20, lines 2-4 (1798)
Of course, he was completely wrong. Like you he didn’t foresee the potential to improve agricultural yields and associated technologies.
The earth, I have heard, can sustain about 8 time the human population we have now. That means we can put the whole subject on the back burner for about 500 years.
Come on, you know that population sustainability is not only dependant on local food production otherwise the current population is and has been unsustainable since the 18th century. Sustainability of populations nowadays is dependant on the degree of exploitation of others and the need for cheap labour which is now becoming less important as agriculture was reduced in favour of industrialisation which has now given way to the euphemistically called financial services, a polite term for usury.
Come Brexit this capacity of 15 million will also be reduced because we will not have the workers to harvest the seasonal crops.
Haughty: “The earth, I have heard, can sustain about 8 time the human population we have now.”
Well, gosh – with solid references like that, we can consider the matter settled. What _was_ all that fuss about overpopulation? Sheesh.
@Rink – if you’re still watching, this is exactly the sort of idiocy we were talking about.
It’s not something that concerns me. I don’t regard climate change as a serious subject.
Most of the people I know who are involved in the climate change industry are rich, with carbon footprints that most of us could only dream of.
Pollution is different.
Certainly does\n’t apply to me as I opposed having any children while married because we couldn’t afford them, and I didn’t want them to have to go through the crap we had. And it is far worse now in our clueless world about anything.
Haughty: “Most of the people I know who are involved in the climate change industry are rich, with carbon footprints that most of us could only dream of.”
That really has to be the most unintelligent response to the entire subject of climate change. “Al Gore flies around on a plane. Therefore climate change is a hoax.” / Thunk /
isnt there a factoid that all of the worlds population could live on Zanzibar so all the scaremongering about overpopulation is just paranoia
If by “factoid” you mean “complete and utter made up BS”, then yes – it’s true. It is utter, complete BS that nearly 8 billion people can live on an area of 950 square miles. That’s about 500 times the population density of Hong Kong.
I took the trouble to look up the stats above before posting. It would be nice if you had bothered too, rather than take the “I heard somewhere” approach to evidence.
‘Mass’ immigration is not the problem.
Neither is ‘racism’ no one is born xenophobic as far as genetics has shown so far.
It is the creation of an unregulated workforce working for major companies who have exploited them to lower wages and conditions, the associated austerity, that is the driving force to split the working classes ( inc the working ‘middle classes) between themselves.
To keep the super rich and their henchfolk secure in their towers/jets/ships/island bunkers.
They are the problem.
Well said Dungroanin!
shugsrug …Neither, I think, will Corbyn be harmed by this disgraceful antisemite campaign. The voters know well that he is not an antisemite, and the movement against him is I think irrelevant. They have if anything helped his cause, and done the Jewish people a disservice. Most people who support Corbyn have had enough of elite and wealthy people, racists and nationalists,…
The signs seems to be that they are well aware of that (what you are saying about the electorate not being fooled, and about JC’s electibility), so instead of risking a devastating outcome (to themselves) in a GE, they intend to prevent any possibility of that outcome, by splitting the LP prior to the next GE. Matters Jwy have simply been identified as the means to do that.
That way, it matters not a jot how strong or credible JC is. The combined BlairiteBreakaway+WerrityTories will pip the Rump Labour in a subsequent GE. The only slim hope would be that some disaffected one-nation/europhile tories move in the opposite direction and throw their weight behind JC.
Or to implement very urgently a massive, vocal, popular Anti-Anti-S Campaign (with Jws, taking a vanguard role) to expose the BS behind the AS campaign.. This, I think, is unlikely given the diversionary tactic that is “brexit” that is evdently addling a lot of otherwise sensible minds..
It’s called splitting the votes to guarantee more Tory austerity, more fracking of national parks, more hardship for us all.
If the establishment believes that is how to split the Labour vote (just like SDP1) – then they will attempt the GE.
I fear they are going to call for a ‘coalition’ with the NuLabInc/LibDem splitters as an emergency hard brexit government, sidelining the Labour movement and the official opposition. A very british coup.
I for one am not going to stand for it.
Which bit will be the rump though?
Some good news about the lie machine.
BBC’s Today programme sheds 800,000 listeners
Decline in numbers comes amid criticism of the flagship Radio 4 show
2 Aug 2018
BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme has lost 800,000 listeners over the past year, according to Rajar figures released on Thursday. The decline in listeners came amid discussion over the direction it has taken under its editor, Sarah Sands, and whether it continues to set the political agenda.
The Today programme reached an average of 7 million listeners a week between April and June, down from a record 7.8 million people in the same period last year. The BBC pointed out that this period included major news events such as the snap general election and the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.
During the same quarterly period in 2016, 7.3 million weekly listeners were attracted to the programme.
/..https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/aug/02/bbcs-today-programme-sheds-800000-listeners
The bad news is that 7million people are still listening to it.
“The bad news is that 7million people are still listening to it.”
Don’t worry. I’m one of them and I don’t believe a word they tell me…
Wallis Simons couldn’t resist joining in the knocking copy against Jeremy.
Pathetic especially the one about ducks. Such is level of commentary in the British MSM these days.
https://twitter.com/jakewsimons?lang=en
Sharp Ears
Imitation is the sincerest form of a**e licking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmZve7CFr3s
GOOD find SA. 🙂
Just off to a West Papua Demo Parliament Square:
https://www.facebook.com/freewestpapua/
The situation is not unlike that of Palestine – International Bodies giving away land that didn’t belong to them.
I salute you, sincerely. Too many think it’s enough to sit on social media all day moaning…
Not everyone lives within walking distance of Parliament Square, mind. And not everyone is free to take time off whenever they fancy doing a bit of demonstrating.
A good number of people, I’d wager, take brief snatches of time away from their day-to-day duties to post stuff on social media – it’s not like every poster is sitting on their couch because they can’t be bothered to do anything else all day. Despite people like yourself insinuating this is precisely all they’re doing.
My views on social media are well known to most. Social media is basically a piece of land set aside for the devil and his followers to play in, a place where they can do no harm or disrupt the everyday business of life. A devil’s plantation.
With all due respect, your particular views on social media are probably little known to most people on this blog, let alone most of the world in general. Unless you’re some major public figure I don’t recognise.
Your weary admonishment concerned “too many” people – presumably who inhabit sites like this, since this is the one we’re corresponding in – who do nothing but comment on social media.
That is the point I was addressing, not how profoundly well understood your views happen to be about social media.
Presumably you’re some major activist yourself, so you can hand down such lofty disdain?
“That is the point I was addressing, not how profoundly well understood your views happen to be about social media.”
And I explained the point I was making for the benefit of those, like you, who aren’t familiar. Duh!
The thing that annoys me most about social media is that people like you use it as an outlet for frustrations and it would serve society better if you found a more healthy outlet elsewhere for those frustrations (ideally somewhere in the real world).
I have no issue with, or interest in, whatever shape you happen to be, how lazy you are, or how much time you spend on here. It’s what social media results in people not doing that bothers me, rather than what they do do…
As I said, a devil’s plantation…
Since you have absolutely no idea what I do, it’s rather stupid to make judgements.
Apart from condescending to people on blogs like this, it’s not obvious you do anything of use yourself. I did invite you to say, clearly it’s nothing worth mentioning.
I have to say, though, I do like it when somebody comes along bemoaning the use – by others – of the very platform they themselves are using for that whinge. The sheer lack of self awareness is most amusing.
@Paul_Barbara
Hope the demo drew attention to what has been going on in West Papua. Without the earnings from thePapuan copper, Indonesia would be in deep trouble financially.The Dutch of course cut and ran although so keen to return to the rest of their plantation colony after the war.Transmigrasi failed as a policy but the largely Javanese officials/military still have a very colonialist /racist attitude toward Papuans (and many other peoples in Nusa Tengarru)
A whole page of the BBC website has been given over to Hodge and her whingeing. It is not news, just more of the same propaganda against Corbyn and the Labour party, I used to call the BBC the ZBC. Must revert to it.
Margaret Hodge criticises ‘ridiculous’ disciplinary action over anti-Semitism row
2 hours ago
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45043063
Whatever you think of Hodge, and she did stand up to the racists in Newham, JC has handled the issue really badly. He could have defused it with a bit of common sense. They have known each other for thirty years.
Really. I have never forgotten the content in this chapter of her record. Shame on her.
With a past like hers, Margaret Hodge might show a bit more humility
In the Eighties Hodge was aware of previous child sex abuse in the care homes for which she was responsible, and did nothing about it
Matthew Norman
10 March 2015
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/with-a-past-like-hers-margaret-hodge-might-show-a-bit-more-humility-10098871.html
@ Sharp Ears August 2, 2018 at 17:41
Should she be vorried already? One suspects not; she still has the backing of the PTB and the alien 5th column; she won’t lose out.
@ Ian August 2, 2018 at 17:15
No way should she be let off the hook, and the situation ‘defused’. Her abject woeful handling of the Islington Child Abuse scandal means she needs to be kicked out, tout suite, after her scandalous rant against JC.
Maybe she could get a position in the Knesset? She’s ‘their kinda gal’.
And remember, she is not an MP for Newham, but Barking.
And why not? She could be classified as a ‘Barking’ MP, in all senses of the word.
But Labour? That is open to question.
No, don’t believe a word of it.far too many lies so far to take anything on trust. Margaret Hodge is without principle indicated by her not voting against the Tory Welfare Reform bill under the direction of interim leader Harriet Harman (182 did not vote against). So 184 labour MPs need deselected.
Also as she did not vote against the Tory immigration bill that led to the Windrush Scandal and denied healthcare to migrants would indicate Margaret Hodge is not interested in the issue of racism unless on grounds of special pleading or personal advancement. Indeed only 6 labour MPs voted against the immigration bill, and it is the very people now being being accused racism such as Corbyn. So, apparently some forms of racism are more equal than others.
The problem is the IHRA definition of anti smtism is itself racist as it preserves the right to self determination only for one side.
The other problem is that it sets a hirachy of oppression, while the 6 million jws who were murdered in the death camps are rightly commemorated, the 3 million others are almost entirely ignored. This indicated that the IHRA is a implicitly racist organisation as it recognises only certain forms of oppression and is blind to other forms of racism so is not a fit body to draw up a definition.
Why is only one religion assumed to never shown more loyalty to a country of origin, other groups have of all denominations throughout history? Nobody is suggesting that UK nationals living abroad or Islamists do not show more loyalty to country of origin than country of nationality in some instances, so the working definition is nonsense and racist as jws show the same variety of loyalties to various countries as anyone else.
Israill is a racist endeavour it is a lie to suggest otherwise as the latest law defining it as a Jwsh state proves, as does the systematic exclusion and murder of Palestinians proves. Indeed the daily haaretz uses the term “The Apartheid Prime Minister”
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/the-apartheid-prime-minister-1.6319599
It is entirely appropriate to draw comparisons between Israill state and the Nazis, as the Nazis existed before the death camps where they used similar tactics such as Ghettos similar to Ghaza. Holocaust, memorial is meaningless if it can only be used for one religious group. Obviously there is no comparison to the Nazi regime in its later stages. But the systematic murder of unarmed protestors including children reporters and medics has uncomfortable parallels. A state that systematic violates the rights of its previous inhabitants, those inhabitants should have the right to to question its right to exist when no reciprocal recognition of Palestine exists, anything else is racism.
https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium.MAGAZINE-when-words-failed-the-great-primo-levi-1.5463446
The lies by the IHRA extend to suggesting that Israll is held to a higher standard, as if Blackwater in Iraq, Bloody Sunday, the Sharpeville massacre and the Amritsar massacre were somehow not criticised..
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ed-miliband-wrong-not-to-vote-against-2014-immigration-bill-says-former-adviser_uk_5add8912e4b089e33c899893?guccounter=1&guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_cs=jAkqFe0rWKTYmLMxLfQz1A
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/just-6-labour-mps-voted-against-the-2014-immigration-act-that-caused-the-windrush-scandal-no-prizes-for-guessing-who-they-were/19/04/
https://labourlist.org/2015/07/48-mps-break-whip-to-vote-against-welfare-bill-full-list/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/these-are-the-184-labour-mps-who-didn-t-vote-against-the-tories-welfare-bill-10404831.html
https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/working-definition-antisemitism
While you are at it, please compare the ISIS (state) to the Nazis. They also go UK/US protection and assistance, just like Israel. Include the number of civilians killed, tortured and enslaved. This all happened recently at the same distance from Britain as Israel, ~ 2400 miles.
Go ahead, knock yourself out.
Antonyl
When in a hole , stop digging. You have previously denied that the Jews are a race (true but not what we hear), that the Sunni were a colonial race(???) then you have compared Israel with Saudi Arabia and now you have kindly suggested the equivalence of IS and Israel, something which most of us have not gone as far as daring to say. Maybe some equality training is needed before the next statement?
Does PR China beats Israel? Looks like it. Deafening silence in all Muslim majority AND minority countries like UK . Chinese might is right in the 21st century. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/ethnic-cleansing-makes-a-comeback–in-china/2018/08/02/55f73fa2-9691-11e8-810c-5fa705927d54_story.html
“Does PR China beats Israel? Looks like it…”
The “Washington Post”:
“Since last year, hundreds of thousands — and perhaps millions — of innocent Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region in northwest China have been unjustly arrested and imprisoned…”
There are only about ten million Moslems in Xinjiang to begin with.
“There are credible reports of torture and death among the prisoners…”
Twitter, or it didn’t happen.
“The government says it is fighting “terrorism” and “religious extremism.”
They are.
“Uighurs say they are resisting a campaign to crush religious and cultural freedom in China. ..”
For decades China has operated a policy designed to encourage and protect all 57 of its non-Han minorities. They were always exempt from the one-child policy. They benefit from preferential conditions in terms of university admission. Large sums of money are invested in protecting and conserving their languages, cultural traditions etc. However, the Chinese have a specific problem with one particular ‘ethnic group’ which of course everywhere else on the planet is renowned for the peace and harmony it brings. The Chinese do not take a very tolerant view of ‘ethnic groups’ who attack innocent migrant workers and helpless teenage girls in railway stations and stab them to death.
“The government has destroyed thousands of religious buildings. It has banned long beards and many Muslim names…”
I have a hard time getting worked up about this.
“People are forced to eat pork against their beliefs…” Y
ep. An army of Han jobsworths ranges the Autonomous Region, carrying sticks and bags of pork, making the Uighurs eat pork and hitting them with a stick if they won’t. Seriously. Grow up. Try to keep you idiotic accusations this side of Lala Fantasy Land.
“The Chinese government’s persecution of innocents continues even after their death. Crematoria are being built to literally extinguish the Uighur funeral tradition, which insists on burials…”
Trying to literally extinguish the Uighur tradition? Literally extinguish? This policy is being applied across the whole of China, for sound reasons to do with land use.
Add that 182 to those who voted for the Iraq war and you’ll see how much of a peoples movement the labour party had become pre-Corbyn. He’s wrong about Brexit though!
She was on Woman’s hour for about 10 minutes. Madame Unctious (aka Jenny Murray) fed Hodge some dolly drop questions. There was no one on to reply to Hodge’s allegations.
I wonder if the recent upsurge is designed to undermine Corbyn with reference to Brexit. All of those Blairites want that second/third referendum to reverse the June 2016 vote. There are exceptions such as John Mann.
Willsman was quite right about Trump fanatics
“Jonathan Arkush, the President of the Board of Deputies, was one of the first to congratulate Donald Trump on his election as President of the United States on behalf of the Board. This action was harshly criticised by many Jews he claims that the Board represents. He also gives unqualified support to Israel’s pro-settler Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who enjoys good relations with the very far right political forces in Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic who are fanning bigotry against minorities, including Jews.
Until very recently the Jewish Leadership Council was chaired by Sir Mick Davies, who was appointed Tory Party treasurer in February 2016 and is now the Chief Executive of the Conservative Party.”
That was two J.wish women talking together then when Murray was talking to Hodge.
‘So, what is God to you now?
If I were to define myself it would be more as a humanist than anything else, because that’s – that’s all I see existing, really. We are not here for very long and it’s our responsibility to make things right
I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in God at all.
I think my father was an atheist, too. He had a very interesting background. After he was in India, he went to Poland and he and my mother were living in a little village near Auschwitz. By now I’m 15 and my father said: ‘I’d like to take you both to Auschwitz.’ My mother said: ‘Under no circumstances do you take Jennifer there. She’s too young, she shouldn’t know about these things.’ And my father said: ‘You’re wrong.’
So, he and I went and as we came out, under [the sign that says] Arbeit macht frei, he said: ‘Well, there but for the grace of God…’ I said: ‘What?’ He said: ‘Well, you’re not really Jewish but I don’t think Hitler would have minded that.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said: ‘Well, my mother’s Jewish, so I am.’ And I then realised that the reason my mother had so not wanted me to go there was, she didn’t want me to find out that I was Jewish.’
https://highprofiles.info/interview/jenni-murray/
July 2nd 2014
Well said Franz, not to forget the surging AfD in Germany smarting to adopt the Apartheid politics/policies of a rogue state. Especially those policies dealing with its minority (20%)Arab population not recognised in the new all Arian/ Jewish state.
Dolphin class subs anyone? They are going cheap. Guilt always halfs the price.
AfD is not surging. They’re much the same as UKIP in their splits and level of appeal. And the 2015 refugee crisis is over now.
@ Sharp Ears August 2, 2018 at 15:05
Just how much MSM coverage has been given to Ken Livingstone, who they crucified for telling the truth?
What he claimed was historically correct. Yuck, Hodge, P*ss off, Real Labour can do without you.
Today in russian news:
Emma Best published on Wikileacks, Bellingcat is sponsored by UK Ministry of Defence
http://www.ntv.ru/novosti/2054762/
I found details here
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/4358460.html
Tatyana
Eliot Higgins is a fellow of the Atlantic Council, another propaganda outfit.
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/experts/list/eliot-higgins
This is from one of thier publications: ‘Breaking Aleppo.
“Aleppo has been described as the Srebrenica, and the Rwanda, of our time. After more than four years of stalemate, and months of siege and battle, December 2016 saw the last of the population of the besieged eastern half of the city evacuated on the now-infamous green buses. The evacuation was the result of a crescendo of brutality. Years of indiscriminate bombings killed thousands, and destroyed much of the east of the city. They gave way to months of brutal siege, and finally, to weeks of bombardment.”
Would you believe this exhageration: Rwanda, Srebrenica? Are they serious?
@ Tatyana August 2, 2018 at 15:16
Surprise, surprise, surprise….the ‘White Helmets’ PR agency for the Waet’s proxy headchopper ‘Regime Chenge’ Brigade is also sponsered by the Brits.
Such a thing! Vonders never cease, already!
It is very easy to pick up a virus online nowadays – all one has to do is be a Human Rights worker, be targeted by a UK friend nation-state, using ‘lawful intercept’ cyber weapons made – you know where – Zion?
and Mo(pbuh)‘s your uncle – your human rights related head could have been chopped-off!
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/08/01/7631533134319/?sl=2
or here but my 4G network isn’t connecting to this site very well today https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/amnesty-international-targeted-israeli-spy-software
An evil bunch if snoopers and spies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSO_Group
The head of the viper is located in Herzliya. home of the infamous Herzliya annual Conference.
I see Mr BLiar on their website front page.
http://www.herzliyaconference.org/eng/
#David Aaronovitch
4 hours ago
It is fair – and necessary – for people to critique the BBC. It listens and its journalists are sensitive – maybe over-sensitive – to critcism. But this constant total sledging of the Beeb from all directions is going to end in tears.
https://twitter.com/DAaronovitch/status/1025024972035641345
😉
PS Don’t forget Sweeney on Newsnight tonight BBC2 10.30pm ref Julian Assange.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/07/the-ubiquity-of-evil/comment-page-6/#comment-766344
Alex Takes on the bbc Over Indy Bias, and Wings You Tube Ban –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsgGRszAXKA&t=240s
I see the Wings You Tube site is back up
Fuck the bbc
Sharp Ears, Cheers for the George Galloway wisdon Re Labour disintegration re Antisemitism
Tomorrow’s daily Mail headline:
CORBYN INVADES POLAND!
Plucky little Belgium ” fearful.”
Well………. if the media are going to make things up – so can I.
There is a Demo tomorrow: https://www.facebook.com/inmindscom/photos/gm.878179442381873/1840537449365209/?type=3&theater
3rd Aug 2018 – Free Lama Khater & All Palestinian Journalists: Tomorrow at 4 PM – 6 PM
Where? What do you know, the British Propaganda Corporation, already!
Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London.
Bring baseball bats or cricket bats!
We used to throw shoes into the entrance. Following the incident when a shoe was aimed at Bush by an Iraqi journalist. Bush ducked.
The webpage about Lama Khater.
http://www.inminds.com/article.php?id=10812
‘…Lama Khater
42 years old, mother of five, Lama Khater is a Palestinian journalist. Her articles for Al Jazeera, Quds News Network and Meem Magazine have been critical of both the occupation and the PA, in particular the security agreement the PA has made to police Palestinians on behalf of the occupation. This has resulted in both the Israeli occupation and the PA threatening her, demanding she stop her journalism.
A week before her arrest, her husband Hazem al-Fakhouri, a fellow journalist, was summoned by the Israeli forces. They warned him that his wife would be arrested if she didnt stop her critical writing. He was asked what was the age of their youngest son Yahya and if his wife was still breastfeeding him. Israeli law allows a child under 2 years old who is still being breast fed to accompany his mother to prison when she is arrested. Yahya was a couple of month older that 2 years.
Three days later, on 20th July, Lama’s latest article was published on the subject of Israel trying to starve the people of Gaza in retaliation for the Great Return protests by partially closing the Karam Abu Shalem border crossing – the only entry point for food into Gaza.
Four days later, at 2am in the morning of 24th July 2018, Israeli soldiers raided Lama’s home in occupied Al-Khalil – Hebron. Before they dragged her away in their military transport, Lama insisted on hugging her son Yahya goodbye. Lama’s daughter Beesan recalls “My mother kissed each one of us goodbye, and advised us to take care of each other”.
The Israeli soldiers took her to the illegal settlement of Kiryat Araba and brutally interrogated her for 5 hours till 7am when she was moved to Ashkelon interrogation centre where her interrogation continued. She was shackled to a chair the whole time, denied sleep and constantly cursed and shouted at by Israeli interrogators non stop for 10 hours at a time, day after day. When she wouldn’t break, the interrogators asked for her detention to be extended, which the military judge agreed to at her hearing on 26th July. Her lawyer, finally being able to see her briefly, filed an appeal against the extension – she was still being held without any charge. That appeal was rejected by Ofer military court on 30th July. Lama was still denied family visits. Her 2 years old son Yahya, missing his mother, came to the appeal hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but the soldiers spitefully refused him entry. He went home without being allowed to see his mother. Today Lama is still being caged without charge, shackled at the mercy of Israeli interrogators….’
Sp why should the I^^aeli regime not be likened to the Nazis? 2AM raids were typical Nazi tactics, and the Warsaw Ghetto, where people were shot for trying to get out to get food, is not unlike the Gaza siege, and shooting people trying to escaped the largest open-air prison in the world.
From wedding dresses to soap: Gaza event highlights Israeli siege
Over 1,000 items displayed at exhibition calling attention to Israel’s ‘suffocating’ Gaza siege, home to two million.
by Farah Najjar & Hosam Salem
17 hours ago
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/wedding-dresses-soap-gaza-event-highlights-israeli-siege-180802103858751.html
Lieberman quoted again. Is he is charge of the open air prison? Fuel and gas supplies have been cut off now.
‘In recent months, Palestinians in Gaza have renewed protests against the naval, aerial and land blockade, as well as for their right to return to the homes from which they were expelled in 1948. At least 153 people have been killed by Israeli gunfire during the popular demonstrations – dubbed the Great March of Return – taking place along the fence with Israel.’
Where’s our cleverest commentator John Goss on all this?
You’re not joking are you.
Scapegoating.
We need “nationalism” because it keeps a blind eye for British bankers.
Economics is the battle ground, not nationality or “race”. The nationalists have nothing to say about the issue that really are at the root of conditions. Only complete morons think it’s something to do with “race” or even religion. Or some unique cultural attribute that ALWAYS ignores the class structure of our society.
Well I’m sue it’s very comforting to imagine “WE” are somehow more the same as each other because of country. But some in most countries have values that make me want to throw up. Because they are not humane values, Here is no different.
Justice? Real justice? Few in the UK is even talking about the issues. No bankers held to account, no war mongers held to account. Nationalism. https://youtu.be/TPTbJFA7xRc?t=38m4s
Are* even talking about-
What gets me is they know that people care about money, know that it matters in this system. Or the big red bus was for nothing.
It was an economical argument that was made over & over by leavers. But never wanting to leave a base uncovered, “more important things” slogan is thrown in.
& yes their is more important things, money is the cause of poverty in this system, and it shouldn’t be allowed to cause sub human living conditions.
& Yes, civic duty is lost, but you won’t find it again in nationalism.
Take a trip into space, find the human race.
And they didn’t even want money for them, it was for the NHS.
How these twisted bastards use the good nature of ordinary folk. To push their toxic snake oil.
People are going to wake up to this stuff very fast me thinks.
What could be more nationalistic than the bilge you write.
Who cares about your rotten stinking corrupt society which does not hold bankers to account and which is helped by your puerile conflation of race with economics.
Here is an article setting out some details surrounding the greatest of great depressions experienced by Greece
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-08-01/greeces-greatest-depression
How long must Greeks suffer and how many Greeks need to die? Why should Greece pay the price for your pious virtue.
The only possible way to relieve the suffering of Greek citizenry is to smash the EU. Greece is far too weak to accomplish this task for itself and so must be helped. The people of the UK are willing to do some heavy lifting to relieve the suffering of Greece – and for their altruism and willingness to sacrifice they are smeared by by self obsessed people concerned only with polishing their own virtue in as public a domain as possible.
The UK is not Greece, & to use the UK to smash the EU? …And people think just Brexit will be bad.
The Greeks voted to stay in. If we had any solidarity or good grasp of reality we’d be helping to fight for reform. By which we’d all benefit, not all be harmed.
It’s a totally from mars narrative you paint. Purely idealogical fantasy. Like it’s used for war, but we know it’s really only about benefiting the few. We must smash our economy, because look at Greece?
At least they had little options. …We could have always set a better example & put pressure on the EU, we didn’t because of blind nationalism that forbids self critique. We didn’t have to follow all the austerity, cuts & privatisation. But fact is “we” have been at the forefront of the rot.
It’s a choice made by the few, & now we have only negative influence in this war of all against all. Great future this is leaving for the young. Real virtuous.
Ishmael
No, a diminishing majority in Greece support Remaining in the Eurozone, (newseurope and FT below)
It is like suggesting not escaping from a loan shark is somehow a vote of confidence, no it is just fear of repercussions such as punishment beatings. As the EU has been known to use the financial markets to discipline members, such as withdrawing liquidity from its banks, as it did in Greece before the referendum and did threaten in the Italian election.
The question is, given that Greece is expected to run a budget surplus/austerity up to 2060 (FT below) does the EU collapse and a left wing opposition to the EU arise before the far right take over after the betrayal by Syriza? After all the Greek populous is unlikely to put up with 50yrs+ of austerity without social break down?
” Debt relief deal gives Greece hope after years of austerity
Agreement with bailout creditors sets terms for Athens that stretch over decades”
FT June 22, 2018
Which states: ” The statement agreed by finance ministers contains some of the longest timelines of any EU document. Greece will be expected to maintain a primary budget surplus — a measure of its government finances that excludes debt repayments — of 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product until 2022. Future governments will be expected to hit an average surplus of 2.2 per cent until the 2060s.”
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/support-eu-wanes-italy-greece/
“Greece’s membership of the euro is still tenuous” FT Alphaville November 7, 2017
By: Matthew C Klein
By the way has any reform of the EU actually occurred and if not 10yrs into a financial crisis when if ever?
? So yes then
And I don’t think it’s that simplistic. The fact is we are now seeing exactly how it benefits us in many ways.
You think its going to be easier or less harm to those that are in the Euro also? We have our own currency and look at the potential, (and likely) consequences?
And there has been virtually zero effort to reform the EU. This is because we don’t have local governments working in peoples interest. Never look what’s going on at home isun’t it? It’s always them, the other.
Right up until leaving giving Cameron supported austerity etc. Against the EU? Ha.
Nobody in government challenged the EU to reform whatsoever. It’s little wonder we have seen zero.
Ishmael
Less harm, because of the misguided economically illiterate economic polices of the EU the faster it collapses the less damage it can do. The problem is this the EU particularly in the Eurozone is recreating practically all the economic policies that led to the rise of the far right in the 30s.
For example:
A fixed currency (gold standard then, Euro now) without fiscal transfers
Open capital markets being pro cyclical exacerbating crisis
(Open in the 30s, guaranteed in by the single market now)
Massive trade imbalances the US running a massive trade surplus in the 30s, Germany now.
A large unpayable debt, German war debt in the 30s, EU periphery now
Open capital markets used to service unpayable debt until a economic crisis then austerity used in a doomed attempt to pay off unpayable debt.
Essentially in the 20s/30s Germany had unpayable debt that it tried to inflate way in the early 20s, which failed so financed unpayable war debt with US borrowing to pay to the UK and France who needed this due to its own payable war debt to the US, the US recycled its trade surplus and war reparations as fresh loans to Germany. This continued until the great crash in 29 when the lending dried up and Hynrich Brunning (the hunger chancellor 1930-32) instituted a doomed policy to pay unpayable debts with austerity crashing the economy into deflation and bringing Hitler to power the year later.
Now do you see the similarity to the EU doomed economic policy in the Eurozone, and the reason for the far rights rise in Europe, as the EU has crushed any left wing opposition to EU austerity leaving the door open for the far right to pose as a alternative such as in Italy, Hungary, Poland Latvia, Austria and even in France and Germany. This is far more significant than in the UK, although a second referendum would give a boost to the far right in the UK.
“In today’s debt crisis, Germany is the US of 1931
Germany’s own history shows that dictating economic decline to other nations only stores up trouble for the future”
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2011/nov/24/debt-crisis-germany-1931
I would not call this simple, if anything it is less so. The basic problem is that the Euro was designed by idiots that did not understand any economic history, a currency union requires fiscal transfers to work. And You cannot have free movement of capital unless you have pooling of risk, such as the ECB issuing Eurobonds (not individual countries) and Germany being responsible for Greek and Italian debt. Germany is free to have its own currency and not be responsible for Italian and Greek debt and see it appreciate when running a trade deficit harming its exports, but it cannot try and externalise adjustment costs of running a trade surplus on the Eurozone periphery and benefit from a competitive currency, it has to provide fiscal transfers for this to work.
This is because of the accounting identity under free movement of capital, Capital account + Current account = 0, so trade deficits have to be financed by net borrowing (or selling off of income producing assets in the short term) and everybody can not run a trade surplus at the same time. So a fixed currency without fiscal transfers requires a permanent shrinking of trade deficit countries (not politicly or economically sustainable).
Economist Mark Blyth and the future of the Eurozone (with slides) (explains this quite well)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S31VLG8Qi78
In a currency union the less competitive areas shrink as they can no longer compete (as they cannot devalue) with the more efficient export areas, which is why fiscal transfers occur North to South Italy to this day as developing industry in South Italy that was developing before unification collapsed with currency union when Italy unified.
There is a reason why Keynes insisted that Bretton Woods did not have free movement of capital as he saw the effects on Germany while working at the treasury, and indeed resigned.about what he called a Carthaginian peace imposed on Germany in 1919 when he wrote the “Economic consequences of the peace” still worth a read.
It is absurd to try and compare the levels of austerity in the UK to those imposed by the EU on Greece, such as the massive rise in suicides as described by the BMJ, I am not trying to belittle the effects on the UK of austerity, but the effects have been much more austere under the EU within the Eurozone as even the currency cannot depreciate so all adjustment (without fiscal transfers) has to be by driving down wages and prices (which does not work),
“The impact of economic austerity and prosperity events on suicide in Greece: a 30-year interrupted time-series analysis” https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/1/e005619
The EU is designed to avoid reform, as the most significant features require unanimity, if you do not believe me read the Lisbon treaty.
http://en.euabc.com/upload/books/lisbon-treaty-3edition.pdf
Greece attempted to reform the EU with no success at all, because the EU is run by idiots who have no intention of reforming (as the UK is). It is irrelevant whether Cameron supported austerity he still does he left because he supported remaining in the EU. The point is EU austerity under a single currency is even worse than in the UK.
This is after all only comparative, the UK has a stupid self destructive economic policy driven by austerity, the Eurozone however with a badly destined single currency has a even worse economic policy with worse austerity, where EU commission can fine countries 0.5% of GDP within the Eurozone for violating the fiscal compact (gov debt greater than 60% of GDP or gov deficit of greater than 3% of GDP). Even the UK has not got anything this stupid.
@Reg
comparing austerity INFLICTED by The British government on its people because it failed to tackle the “too big to fail” banks is far far different from the situation in Greece
skyblaze
In what way is it different?
After all the exposure to bad Eurozone debt is far higher in France and Germany is far higher than in the UK for its private banks. So Soc Gen, BNP and Deutsche bank are indeed to big to fail, which is why they were bailed out.
Indeed are not the Italian Banks stuffed full of bad assets to big to fail, which is why so much QE was directed at them by the ECB. This was why the Greek bail out was really a bail out of the French and German banks with French and German Taxpayers money, with a view to asset strip Greece later to refund French and German taxpayers. So it is not different it is just that you do not understand it and have a ‘faith’ in the EU unsupported by evidence.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/29/where-did-the-greek-bailout-money-go
So this was INFLICTED by the ECB on Greece to benefit the overlarge financial sector in France and Germany.
Look at the private banks holding bad debt by country in the links below.
” EU banks rush to ‘have cake and eat it’ with bad loan sales, Lenders take advantage of new accounting rules to defer the impact on capital” FT Martin Arnold, Banking Editor April 23, 2018
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-14/get-a-grip-on-europe-s-bad-loan-problem-with-these-five-charts
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-07/deutsche-bank-shares-plunge-to-crisis-level-as-analysts-get-wary
https://www.dw.com/en/deutsche-banks-deep-strategic-hole/a-43312163
Deutsche Bank is probably insolvent, as the articles above indicate.
It is also nonsense because it was the too big to fail US bank Goldman Sachs that arranged and profited from the debt swap arrangement that enabled Greece to fudge entry requirements (as all members did to a greater or lesser extent). The EU management almost certainly knew due to the preponderance of Goldman Sachs operatives in the EU. The link below is a bit old but you get the picture, and has since been joined by fresh ex Goldman Sachs employees since such as Carney, Barroso also left as head of the European commission for Goldman.
“What price the new democracy? Goldman Sachs conquers Europe”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/what-price-the-new-democracy-goldman-sachs-conquers-europe-6264091.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/15/european-commission-rebuked-jose-manuel-barroso-ex-chiefs-goldman-sachs-job
Well well well…the Electoral Commission has shown itself to be as effective as the SFO, in terms of where the establshment shovels its caught transgressors of legality, to disappear them from justice or censor.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/02/electoral-commission-drops-investigation-into-dup-over-brexit-spending
The EC is not fit for purpose. Never mind this should be a police matter. A pivate prosecution is in order – where is Gina Miller when you need her? Where are the NuLab rebels? Their facade is shown to be a farce.
The Hard Brexit as originally planned, is in the final stretch.
The EU will not cave into the City’s demands – no matter what the arch bankers Macron and May do to try and snatch that victory from the jaws of defeat – Barnier made it plain to the EU members owned by the bankers today. Merkel will not be turned.
GE now!
Its ok, it’s British unfairness. This democratic nonsense doesn’t matter within the UK.
Just wave the flag.
How does US deep state see a hard Brexit? Boon or bane for them? Lose inside influence in the EU by star 51? (Obama) Finally a free Airstrip One? Any thought?
Well as I don’t work for the deep-state I can but try and randomly guess what an ‘ard Brexit might do, but first a bit of deep-state context, misquoting Cleese
“what did the EU ever do for us”, (were there any strategic gains made by being inside the EEC, EC, EU?)
UK successfully launched pervasive (world) ‘phone surveillance on behalf of ‘the FBI’ through the agricultural & fishing committee of The Council, many years ago (according to Statewatch), UK pushed very hard for EU eastern expansion, accepting all the post-soviet states (part of Bill Clinton/Zbigniew Brzezinski’s encircle campaign) without any budget expansion. That was then.
As to what/who next?, gain or loss??, UK/England might simply pretend (to hard) BINO (ex in Name Only) but assuming they do really leave, and I’m fine with that sovereign decision, then US deep state (their matrix of tiered agencies & partners) might simply pivot to Poland, rely on Romania, switch to Serbia, move to Montenegro. They have options and are in full public-diplomacy spending in at least the Baltics & probably Polska.
I think the UK’s easy access will be sorely missed, so a bane, but there might continue serious behind the scenes ‘security’ cooperation if the UK/EU can both drop sufficient of their respective Red Lines, and immediately sign their deep and comprehensive agreement; should UK feel like rescuing something from what might be a temporary(decade?) ‘disaster’ of Brexit.
I’d say Cameron’s party idiocy might end with not just Brexit, but possibly exit of the UN sec-council UNSC, as hard blowback. Not impossible the way UK is losing friends & influences at present, mega-shambles!
I would suggest that the US establishment (to use a less loaded word meaning the same thing) supports the UK Remaining in the EU. This would be supported by Obama supporting Remain, and by all the big US Banks supporting and funding Remain.
If you want to lauder money in the UK (as some of the most dodgy activities were routed via London as these activities would often be illegal in the US) you obviously want free movement of capital between the UK and the rest of the EU, which is guaranteed by the EU single market.
“Goldman Sachs backs pro-EU campaign with ‘six figure donation'”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35366994
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/21/jpmorgan-backs-campaign-to-keep-britain-in-the-eu
So Trumps policy against the EU is not (in the main) in line with US establishment policy which is to drive a wedge between Russia and the EU by creating a external enemy to retain the EU under the US sphere of influence and to minimise the economic threat of the EU. Trumps policy is however in line with the US establishment line on issues like Nordstream 2, as a close trading relationship between the EU and Russia with trade in Euro would be the end of $ reserve status as the EU and Russia supply what each other need.EU is a developed economy without room for expansion and without significant raw materials. Russia with significant need for and investment opportunities and room for expansion and the 3rd largest raw materials including rare earth metals used for renewables.
After all Russia is not a threat to the US having the 11th largest nominal GDP in the world in $, the EU however had a economic output larger than the US before the crisis. So attacks against Russia are to weaken the EU, which it wants intact but under US directorship needing the UK, the UK’s role within the EU is the enemy within weakening the EU, pushing it in a more neo-liberal direction and pushing it eastwards as a way of enabling NATO’s eastward expansion with the lure of EU membership.
None of this is possible, or is much more difficult if the UK leaves the EU.
Yes, this “the EU however had a economic output larger than the US before the crisis. So attacks against Russia are to weaken the EU”
This is the game.
As I toured the US physics bases looking for a home, NASA was out of the question – I wasn’t that impressed by their labs, really old style equipment, really old style management. This was true also at SLAC and FERMILAB, but they had some newer ideas , due to international collaboration, many UK/EU engineers/scientists working there they were praised for their ideas and work ethic. They could even put-up with the ‘work Saturday, and all holidays’ or you’re fired – typical US approach to labor relations.
I seriously think that EU could rival or improve on FAANG, if UK/EU engineers/scientists got the phase-space and mission to be creative, but one of the early uses of ECHELON was to steal proprietary start-up information and ideas , stall, prevent any societal advancement, as far as the US establishment could get away with. “Bugging and Burglaring not just across London, but the whole world,” misquoting Peter Wright, the ex-principal scientific officer/assistant director for Mi5.
French President De Gaulle certainly got the idea that UK joining EEC was purely/mostly for America’s benefit (un cheval de Troie des États-Unis), which is one reason why he vetoed the idea for so long.
More at https://www.les-crises.fr/les-deux-veto-du-general-de-gaulle-a-langleterre/
Antonyl let me try to answer that.
The Deep State in the US and UK are but one and same.
The Wall St/ City of London nexus is ancient. Represented by the CFR and Chatham House in their imperial conquest.
Do they want a hard brexit?
Fuck yeah, they can’t stop the EU project of Political and Economic union – they tried to with the UK inside trying to disrupt it, with it’s vetos – the last throw of the dice now as they try and break the EU political unity. Along with various other infiltrator national leaders controlled by the same ancient imperialists.
Why? Why Now? Why Brexit?
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/anti-tax-avoidance-package/
That is why. They can no longer hide their illgotten gains behind obscure offshore tax regimes.
The Brexit referendum was put into place immediately after Cameron failed to stop the package proceeding. Look at the timeline. The full force of the DS and International Finance and spooky technology was deployed via SCL – CA/AIQ/ etc. With the goons in the MSM let loose, even blowing their meticulous cover as ‘liberals’ as the DS loses on every front they have been manipulating for decades.
The € will not be killed.
$ will stop being the only petro currency.
China / India / Russia will keep growing in influence – they will be the tourists that the old economies will be relying on to earn their foreign currency in centuries hence.
The DS is in DS! Rock on.
This is a common misconception, capitalism is not all one thing, different arms of capitalism want different things.
The life blood of finance capitalism is free moment of capital,guaranteed by the single market, why do you think all the big US banks funded remain? Unless you can move capital freely across boundaries how is money laundering and tax evasion possible? The EU guarantees free movement of capital as one of the four freedoms underpinning the single market.The US financial sector uses the UK for activities illegal in the UK, and as a bridgehead into EU markets which is only possible with the UK as a EU member.
Your rather naive view of the EU also negates other battles within capitalism such as the Koch brothers trying to remove Trump. Yes,of course the $ will stop becoming the reserve currency despite the imbeciles running the Euro doing their best to destroy it. The US does not want the destruction of the EU (apart from Trump) as one body is easier to control than many, but wants to limit its economic power with an outside enemy. The falling rate of profit in the US means different arms of US capitalism squabbling about the carve up of the spoils. This is the reason for the fall out between Trump and finance capitalism, the landlords.and finance are at war over the carve up of the economy having impoverished the less well off the middle classes and even productive manufacturing capitalism, leaving the two arms of rentier capitalism at war.
“Goldman Sachs backs pro-EU campaign with ‘six figure donation'”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35366994
“JPMorgan backs campaign to keep Britain in the EU ”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/21/jpmorgan-backs-campaign-to-keep-britain-in-the-eu
“EU referendum: Citi the latest bank to give six figure sum to the Remain campaign”
http://www.cityam.com/238764/eu-referendum-citi-the-latest-bank-to-give-six-figures-to-the-remain-campaign
This “Anti tax avoidance package ” is also nonsense, pure propaganda without merit..
As the Oxfam report ‘Blacklist or whitewash’ on the EU tax haven report points out if the EU applied its own members they would be classified as tax havens. The Oxfam report using EU methodology defines the following as tax havens (Ireland *
Luxembourg Malta Netherlands) as the EU refuses to apply this methodology on its own members. Also given the present EU commission President the ‘tired and emotional’ Jean Claude Junkers role in suppressing the investigation into luxleaks any moves by the EU against tax evasion have no credibility and are just part of a trade war between the EU and the US.
https://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/blacklist-or-whitewash-what-a-real-eu-blacklist-of-tax-havens-should-look-like-620383
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/01/jean-claude-juncker-blocked-eu-curbs-on-tax-avoidance-cables-show
Lets toast ‘ode to joy’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc7svWZIk8o
Thanks for that Reg.
Of course the global robber barons are like rats in a sack and would happily eat each other while selling their grandmas.
There is PR in ‘public’ donations for causes – but that does not imply their true thoughts. And there is any amount of ‘dark’ funding.
The ‘aristos’ will let the new money join some of their clubs – but as has long been the case they won’t let them actually marry in!
The EU is not perfect, as some wise chap once said, it is probably 7 out 10 good… but it can get better.
There is a difference between tax regimes within the EU but it is on a path to eliminate that.
The unregulated off shore secret structures managed by the City are orders of magnitude bigger then the simple financial services threatened by brexit – easily solved by having registered offices in the EU.
Of course events are not about singular causes but there is always one that is always present – Money – follow its paths to seek the truth.
Dungroanin
No, you do not understand capitalism, and finance capitalism in particular free movement of capital (guaranteed by he single market) is the lifeblood of finance capitalism, no amount of evidence free references to tilting at dark pools changes that,. I believe in evidence, produce a credible source for dark pools.
This statement “The unregulated off shore secret structures managed by the City are orders of magnitude bigger then the simple financial services threatened by brexit” is a statement without merit. It is true that London with its light touch regulation was often used by the big US banks for activities illegal in the US, and not a great deal of use if you cannot move capital in and out of Europe. The US banks used London as a bridgehead into European markets. For example the London Whale (JP Morgan), AIG, Lehman, Goldman Sachs with the ‘Fab’ Fabrice Tourre out of the London office, MF Global, Citygroup. Also notice the Telegraph link below that describes how MF global was taking out bets on European debt out of its London office, as the UK was one of the lightest touch regulatory regimes for finance in a developed country. Do the links below describe simple financial services, or some of the biggest financial trades in history.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/may/11/jp-morgan-trader-london-whale
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/apr/27/goldman-sachs-fabrice-tourre-denies-charges
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/apr/18/goldman-sachs-regulators-civil-charges
https://www.forbes.com/2009/03/13/aig-london-losses-markets-equity-insurance.html#7de3c0a5214c
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8860214/MF-Global-files-for-bankruptcy-after-European-debt-bets.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/how-goldman-sachs-took-over-the-world-873869.html
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/18/libor-scandal-the-bankers-who-fixed-the-worlds-most-important-number
Who is bigger Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citygroup who funded Remain or Aeron Banks who does not even appear on the Forbes billionaire list or Soros who does. 7/10 is an arbitrary meaningless figure by someone having no understanding of the structure or operation of the EU. There is no evidence that the EU has any intention of eliminating tax havens the Oxfam report and Junkers attempt to suppress an investigation into Luxenbourg tax evasion proved (which I linked above). All this proves is the EU is systematic corrupt, and interprets rules to benefit its stronger members, the EU did not even define the UK as a tax havens as the Oxfam the report on tax havens points out.
“The unregulated off shore secret structures managed by the City are orders of magnitude bigger”, no they are not Luxemberg is a significant tax haven as is Ireland. In fact Ireland is such a significant tax haven that its GDP is recognised as almost unrepresentative of its economic output as it is warped by capital flows from tax evasion.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ireland-among-world-s-worst-tax-havens-jfcw0xvnq
https://www.financialsecrecyindex.com/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/04/which-countries-are-worst-affected-by-tax-avoidance/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/ireland-tax-avoidance-gdp-royalties-eu-european-commission-a8244456.html
In Ireland tax avoidance royalties makes up almost 1/4 of GDP. (independent above)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2017/09/15/tax-haven-cash-rising-now-equal-to-at-least-10-of-world-gdp/#58bab55370d6
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/sep/27/tax-evasion-how-much-does-it-cost-a-country
I have used a variety of sources that prove tax evasion in the rest of the EU is not insignificant compared to the UK. Indeed the UK did not even come top in any of the links above. So I would be careful relying on your prejudices to come to conclusions without looking at the evidence. I have come across this before, belief in the EU is not based on evidence, so is immune to argument and facts as it makes up a crypto religious belief system as people want to believe in something no matter how meaningless. Where is the evidence that the EU is eliminating tax evasion other than as a tactic to target US companies as part of a trade war?
Why has Amazon’s UK tax bill been cut? Amazon is killing the UK High Street.
The company which has made record profits is registered in Luxembourg.
Amazon UK corporation tax bill falls to £4.6m
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45053528
A change of tune from the Israelis. Assad should beware of Lieberman and his forked tongue.
‘Butcher’ no more? Assad in charge of Syria good for our security, says Israeli defense minister
https://www.rt.com/news/434972-israel-assad-power-syria/
‘Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman says the looming victory for Damascus may be good news for the J.wish state, suggesting President Bashar Assad can be worked with on issues vital to national security.
Speaking about the long confrontation between Israel and Syria, Lieberman told journalists that “from our perspective, the situation is returning to how it was before the [Syrian] civil war, meaning there is a real address, someone responsible, and central rule.”
When asked whether Israeli forces should be less wary about possible tension in the Golan Heights, the top official answered: “I believe so. I think this is also in Assad’s interest,” Reuters reported.’
It was Netanyahu who wanted civil war and confusion in Syria. Quite what his logic was has never been clear to me, as it was always possible that there would be serious blow-back on Israel, if things didn’t go well, as indeed there has been. I think myself it was pure arrogance – Israel dominates everything, so it can do anything it wants, including turning Syria into a series of ever-warring statelets. Well, the disadvantages of that policy, if it failed, are now evident, and we’re beginning to hear about row-back. Though not from Netanyahu himself – he must be facing disagreement from his cabinet colleagues.
By the way, if you want to know about how Israeli government works, it is well worth reading Avi Shlaim’s ‘The Iron Wall’. It is enlightening how many of Israel’s most bellicose actions were undertaken as private enterprises by extremist nutters, without government approval, but then absorbed into government policy, which became more and more hard-line. Reminds one a lot of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, where hard-line buccaneers like Rénaud de Châtillon succeeded in bringing down the kingdom by excessive aggression.
@Laguerre,
The plan to oust Assad, was mostly aimed at denting Iran an ally in the region. It was also a plan spoken about by the Neocons prior to the Iraq war, where they talked of overthrowing seven regimes in five years including – Iraq, Libya, Syria and Iran.
I note from Bloomberg that May is smooching Macron on the Cote D’Azur and giving him the short end of the wedge, with only eleven weeks to go to High Noon in Brexit town. Events, dear girl, events.
I’m sure he’ll be polite and gracious to her.
“Less harm, because of the misguided economically illiterate economic polices of the EU the faster it collapses the less damage it can do.”
Reg.
Your mad.
I know the issues, i followed varoufakis right through the crises. You don’t recover form a stroke, it will be terminal for many people. & they won’t be better afterwards. Individual nation states are useless. Divided we are going to fall. There is no escaping back in the nation state.
All we have had for the last 50 years is people telling us reform is impossible in the UK. Well now we know it’s not, same withe the EU bureaucracy. & with governments in the hands of people the EU can be reformed.
It will be easy compared to the alternative. You think we are going to have any power in the world as tiny European nation states? To change our destiny? It’s a joke.
Proof is in the pudding. We know what the UK was like & can see exactly were it is going back to before the EU. No human rights, no universal standards, no fair play. Our elite will screw us as they reap the benefits of our weekend financial position. They are capitalists after all.
Brexit is going to destroy democracy. Is a symptom of the democratic deficit right here. People are going to so absorbed in trying to make ends meat. And that’s exactly what the ruling class want, “Your too in dept” they will tell us (depts that they ran up for us) & laugh. As we die.
Brexit is not just an isolated event it’s a path…. backward. And it will not end there, because Europe will be blamed for it not going well, so we’ll withdraw even more. Until we are nothing but peasants living in squaller, slaves to the capitalist class, as if most arn’t already and that’s what all this is really about.
A social Europe is what we need (as in socialist, leading to communism). A new democratic model with set norms across Europe.
This system does treat us worse than animals. & inside or outside nobody pushing to get back in the womb is talking about how we are going to really change anything about the “free” market world order.
We simply don’t have a hope, china is not going to change, the US is not going to change, Russia etc. Not much anyway. Point is we can & I feel must do better.
Even in some wild fantasy brexit “saves” us. From what? To what? It’ll still be the same system that drove the conquistadors. This isun’t a civilised society/system by any stretch of the imagination.
Ishmael
Not true, as a direct result of Brexit the Tory Government lost its majority so if anything the leave vote has interfered with the UKs deregulation agenda which the EU has previously not been any impediment to. All I have seen since the 2017 election is back tracking by the Tory Government, name me one significant policy since the 2017 election?
There is no Social Europe you are living in a dream Greece proved that, indeed Mario Draghi called a end to a Social Europe in 2012 in a interview with the Wall Street journal.
“Europe’s Banker Talks Tough, Draghi Says Continent’s Social Model Is ‘Gone,’ Won’t Backtrack on Austerity”
By Brian Blackstone,Matthew Karnitschnig and Robert Thomson February 24, 2012
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203960804577241221244896782
As you clearly do not understand the EU I suggest you read the Lisbon Treaty I linked to above, also I suggest you read the Varafacus (the person who failed to reform the EU) book ‘And the Weak Suffer What they Must’ to fill in these gaps in you knowledge on how the EU actually operates. In the book he keeps threatening to provide an argument for remaining in the EU, I could not find one in it?
No the ruling class wanted to Remain in the EU, which was why the BofE, Cameron (who had to resign) Osborne (who was sacked) and all the big banks and the CBI all supported Remain.
http://www.cbi.org.uk/news/cbi-to-make-economic-case-to-remain-in-eu-after-reaffirming-strong-member-mandate/
Brexit is not going to going to destroy democracy, that is absurd other democratic countries exist outside the EU and the EU with its limits on running a budget deficit, free movement of capital, limits on state aid and a European Parliament unable to propose legislation is incompatible with democracy.
I fail to see the relevance of the conquistadors? Absurd analogies about strokes have no relevance here.
Here are some of the Tory U Turns made possible by Brexit due to the loss of the majority.
Dropped attempts to abandon pension triple lock, no means testing of winter fuel payments, dropping of the Dementia tax, movement on removing cap on public sector pay, Abortions for Northern Irish women, reversal on abolishing Free school lunches, reduction in waiting time for UC, moves to increase NHS funding,abandoning increases in NI contributions for the self employed,abandonment of attempts to renege on the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), Taking In Refugee Children, accepted the Dubs amendment, and backtracking on Foreign Worker Quotas.
So your statement “Proof is in the pudding. We know what the UK was like & can see exactly were it is going back to before the EU. No human rights, no universal standards, no fair play.” is untrue.
https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/here-are-10-tory-u-turns-since-the-election-was-called
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/28/tory-austerity-policy-chaos-number-10-does-u-turn-u-turn-public/
https://www.lbc.co.uk/politics/parties/conservatives/theresa-may/theresas-u-turns-key-tory-policy-reversals/
To prove you do not understand the functioning of the EU, explain to me the procedure for changing the Lisbon Treaty, hint it is in the Lisbon Treaty, so read it. Explain to me the procedure for bringing new legislation, and the roles of the different EU bodies, explain to me what parts of the EU need reforming and in what way? Explain to me how the EU enforces budgetary discipline and the difference between WTO and EU rules on state aid and how the EU enforces State Aid rules, Explain to me CETA and its similarities to TTIP and TTP? Explain to me how Iceland violated the single market in its economic recovery program? If you do not understand the above how can you possibly know if the EU is reformable?
Totally agree. It is a collective madness though, shared by millions. Have you ever known anything like it?
I think they’re trying to destroy the BBC from within. The idea is to pump out such blatant propaganda on Brexit and Israel, that the BBC is discredited and people on all sides call for it to be abolished. Then Sky and the rest can take over. I think this might be Sky’s strategy in presenting anti-Brexit stories rather than the views of its owner.
I hope europeans are watching the UK.
You must learn this lesson fast, & learn it well.
This ain’t no upwardly mobile freeway, this is the road to hell.
I said momma iv come to the valley of the rich, my self to sell. She said son, this is the road to hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA1V7cI28hI
There was a good comment in the Graun a couple of days ago from a Dane. In his view there was quite a strong anti-EU movement in Denmark, until Brexit, and now it has completely faded away, now that they’ve seen what exit means. The same is true in France, as I see. Le Pen was anti-EU for the longest time. Now she’s been forced to drop it, as there is absolutely no electoral support. I’m sure Macron is taking the right line – better for France to be a leader in the EU, and to be well-placed in decision-making, than to try to break up the EU, and return to national isolation. For the average person in France, that conforms to their needs. Unlike in UK, government and institutions in France do actually react to what people want.
Very true. I am Danish/Swedish work one place and stay the other. Sentiment in both Sweden and Denmark has changed markedly since Brexit. And why not? However “evil and corrupt” the EU can be percieved to be, it is obvious to most that a singly country at its own is very vulnerable. Especially the more developed ones, as there is more to plunder by the multinationals. The EU has secured some rights to ordinary people, that we probably would have lost outside.
How much a ardent socialist Ever I am, I have to concede to the EU, its negotiating powers, powers to see its will through in the face of multinationals and very large nations. Yes the poorer nations have had a hard time, maybe the should look at their own dysfunctional governments. Both Denmark and Sweden had their period of austerity , 1985 and 1997 , respectively, no fun, but necessary, the societies we have today, may not be the best, but they are better than most.
We never did see Globalism arrive and never before now did we understand it, I did not at lest, so some socialistic principles had to be sacrficed, because Globalism is not going away.
Is it “obvious to most that a singly country at its own is very vulnerable. Especially the more developed…”
Take a look at Greece. It has a population of 10.75 million and a GDP per capita of $18,000 and of course it benefits from the full protection of the EU.
Take a look at Singapore. It has a population roughly half the Greek population and a GDP per capita of $52,900. Sadly Singapore does not benefit from the protection of the EU.
Or try New Zealand – population 4.7 million, GDP per capita of $39,400. Sadly New Zealand also operates outside of the orbit of the EU.
You seem to live in complete ideology, with no idea about an actual thing.
We are where we are, “who” we are, with our own situation based on a whole history of relations & surrounding conditions.
The world doesn’t work like your magic box.
Greece was responsible for its own crash. What the EU did was only secondary, however helpful or unhelpful their actions might have been. But people like you are obsessed and unlikely to be interested in the facts. NZ participates in trade arrangements as does Singapore.
I will make an exception an give you a reply. A normally do not reply on biased , inaccurate things taken out of a broader context, but some people need to have fact cut out in stone.
Greece is in no way comparable to Scandinavia, if you think so go and visit all of them. I have.
Singapore is a tax haven, using GDP in this discussion is farcical, at best! Try applying for social benefits in Singapore, and visit it, I happened to have relatives there for a couple of years, 100 000 $ P.a. did NOT make you rich, in any way.
N.Z I visited 8 years back, 🙂 , a “model of Scandinavia”, year right !! Same goes here , not at all the benefits we enjoy in Scandinavia by any means!
I can only conclude you are American or a Brexiteer or live in a bubble (polite speak for not so bright people) or all three.
Read this:
https://www.migrationsverket.se/English/Startpage.html
and follow the links to get a notion of what is your right and plight here in Sweden.
Well we know the program. Cancel the dept, restructure the entire economy. But a lot is going to have to change in Europe for that to happen.
The finical orthodoxy (though there are still such things as economists) is still the same amoung all “leaders” of the main EU nations. Especially Germany (go figure, I’m alright jack).
Sky had this very strident woman, Joanna Williams, on to review the papers along with Nigel Nelson. He works for Trinity Mirror now called ‘Reach’ since TM absorbed the Richard Desmond junk. Going down the pan.
She is very pro Brexit and is extremely worried about Barnier’s rejection of May’s Chequers proposals. She thinks a No Deal is the best option. Really?
On Corbyn and A-S, she said that Israel is being judged on ‘the Palestine problem’ (it is not a problem, it is an Occupier attempting to put down resistance to a cruel Occupation) by a different set of standards to Saudi Arabia, for example. A stupid Zionist Israel supporter.
She writes on Spiked. One of her efforts:
BDS: censorship disguised as justice
Joanna Williams Education editor
Anti-Israel intolerance has made a sham of academic freedom
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/bds-censorship-disguised-as-justice/17995#.W2QUHPZFzIU
Her stuff. Prolific if nothing else.
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/author/Joanna%20Williams
.
These are today’s front pages. Sky have three segments where they are ‘reviewed’. I only saw one of them. That was enough of Ms Williams.
https://news.sky.com/story/fridays-national-newspaper-front-pages-11458502
“She thinks a No Deal is the best option. Really?”
These people are insane. They just parrot short sentences they hear someone else say. No idea what it means. Squawk Squawk, is all it really amounts to. I’m sure a lot will nod in agreement.
Worried about not enough brexit. Says it all really.
Agreed. And remember that the phrase “deal or no deal” comes from a stupidity-encouraging mass-market TV show. Perhaps the British government will now “call a friend” (except it hasn’t got any)? Or perhaps it will ceremonially anoint continental Europe as “the weakest link – goodbye”?
“Deal or no deal” is a suitable phrase for those who have no idea that Britain imports half its food, and who, if they ever do get the okay to think about food imports, will be happy to be sidetracked into exactly how many miles the “tailbacks” of lorries are likely to be, or the size of the lorry parks. (This is a common propaganda technique: get people talking about numbers.)
Anybody who thinks British tangible imports can function anarchically, with no formal arrangement, is an idiot. Perhaps they envisage French peasants bringing vans over on Eu and setting up stalls on the outskirts of London? I wonder what currency they think people will pay in? Because the pound sterling will be cheaper than toilet paper.
It’s deal or Biafra.
The government relies so much on the stupidity of the population and the cowardice and submissiveness of the commentators who only ever think in terms that are handed down to them. For example, the government has literally asserted that one of the reasons there won’t be a problem with the food supply is the “just-in-time” character of distribution!! The phrase is spoken to those who are not expected to be able to apply their minds to what it means. That is certainly not a government that intends to prioritise getting food in our guts.
But a lot of profits will be made as the ship goes down.
Though I do think its good to move toward more local food production. Yes I see your points.
& when you consider all the other things the economy depends on. I don’t like it myself, but this is where we are atm. To do this “sensibly” (if there is such a thing) it would be like a 50 year plan. & why should they bother ?
So we’d have to change the whole economic base to exporting? What? Arms to Europe?
Well it worked so well in the middle east, what could go wrong? Yes, I’m sure arms manufactures & the elite will do very well. Must have made a killing on ww1 & II.
“Progress”.
The thing is we can’t all be export economies. So no guarantee building industry will “work”.
imo it’s this market orthodoxy that’s the issue, & leaders like to pretend it’s all natural, that we can’t or don’t control it. The “free” market. Supply and demand etc. They slave us to this dogma because they never have to face the roman area they set “free” for the rest of us.
No, we get nothing. Save the banks. We must buck up. Sell ourselves chapter, struggle more.
It’s fucking sick.
Maybe it will do many in Britain good to cut back on calories, though.
And I hardly think you can call the free market anarchy.
?
And can’t you?
For us it is. It’s “governed’ by killers who think it’s ok to starve people, or “cut down on calories” . As they sit up in the safe seats. Getting tax cuts.
It’s putrid, vile, & inhuman.
Ishmael, let me draw your attention to one of your big contradictions, even if I can’t help resolve it.
This is a common enough contradiction amongst leading lights on the left. I don’t doubt that people like you and glenn mean well, btw, the problem is you don’t weigh things up properly and see the big picture.
Thus, on one hand people like you complain about climate change and the need to cut back on carbon etc. Earlier on people were making the usual anti-human arguments about population growth, etc. I can only assume they want to wipe out a few billion people or something as a final solution to the global warming problem — if they did, I doubt if it would affect the weather though.
But, then, on the other hand, you attack capitalism because it deprives people of material (carbon). This is an inverted contradiction.
The fact that I need to explain that to people on the left disappoints me.
One of the best things about capitalism, if you take the climate change scare stories seriously (which I don’t), is that it deprives so many billions of the material that they covet.
If you are a true believe in climate change, you should be singing the praises of capitalism.
A lot of people do not like Donald Trump for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that the KKK is allegedly happy that Trump is President. Naturally this is evidence that Trump is a racist, who panders to racists and is supported by racists. Could the case against Trump be any clearer.
How surprising to read that the KKK is similarly enthralled by Jeremy Corbyn
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/former-kkk-wizard-praised-corbyn-victory-rztzv263g
Presumably this must constitute evidence that Corbyn is a racist, who panders to racists and who is supported by racists. Does it make all Corbyn supporters racist or only some of them?
He cultivates, accepts these elements of “his base”. “fine people”?
Enacts racist policies. Targeting minorities.
He rejects science & any notion of human connection to the environment, works for HIS Corporate BASE. Continues to ignore the democratic will of americans who want universal heath care. etc etc.
The man is a walking disaster in most areas. Even more in lock step wth the globalist corporate elite than before. Con man. like Nigel. Scoundrels using “patriotism”. No, the walls are never an issue for those who push for them as solutions. They operate in anther realm to 99% of us.
The new boss. Worse than the old boss.
Good post, Loony. I’m ashamed to admit that i was up until recently guilty of judging Trump myself on the basis of these sort of arguments.
Before his election, If CNN or someone was covering one of his rally events, they’d always interview some crackpot white-trash racist type to give the impression that that’s what Trump was all about. They still do this sort of stuff with him.
Corbyn isn’t fit to tie Trump’s shoelaces and is a complete coward in comparison. I’ve got hair growing in my nostrils that’s more radical than Corbyn — he doesn’t even have the guts to say he’s against renewing Trident, when we all know he is against doing so. That’s an easy issue to be radical on, nobody who believed in Trident wouldn’t even hold that against you, but Corbyn doesn’t want to upset anyone… what chance you got with a radical like that?
clearly you are insane
Looks like you got suckered by The Times.
“A Czech spy, a terrorist in Northern Ireland, a terrorist in the Middle East, an antisemite, a Russian spy and according to the Times he’s now in with the Klan! How the hell Corbyn has found time to be an MP, grow vegetables & make jam I’ll never know..”
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2018/08/03/rupert-murdochs-own-readers-turn-on-the-times-after-it-uses-the-kkk-to-stain-jeremy-corbyn/
‘I^^aeli intervention in US elections ‘vastly overwhelms’ anything Russia has done, claims Noam Chomsky’:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/israel-us-elections-intervention-russia-noam-chomsky-donald-trump-a8470481.html?
‘Veteran activist Noam Chomsky has accused Israel of “brazenly” interfering in US electoral politics in a way that vastly outweighs any efforts that may have been carried out by Russia.
In comments in which he accused much of the media of concentrating on stories he considered marginal and ignoring issues such as the “existential threat” of climate change, the 89-year-old linguist said in much of the world, the US media’s focus with Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 was “a joke”.
“First of all, if you’re interested in foreign interference in our elections, whatever the Russians may have done barely counts or weighs in the balance as compared with what another state does, openly, brazenly and with enormous support,” he said.
Speaking to Democracy Now, Mr Chomsky added: “Israeli intervention in US elections vastly overwhelms anything the Russians may have done, I mean, even to the point where the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, goes directly to Congress, without even informing the president, and speaks to Congress, with overwhelming applause, to try to undermine the president’s policies – what happened with Obama and Netanyahu in 2015.”….’
It’s a miracle the Indy printed it – I doubt if any US MSM did. I certainly can’t find any US MSM reference to Chomsky’s allegations.
Robert Fisk ‘gets it’, ie the lies that have been told and the ‘promises’ made to the Palestinians
Look closely and you’ll see Jared Kushner’s cynical ‘deal of the century’ for Palestinians in action
Their hearts may be empty but their stomachs shall be filled. Their hopes may be dead but their bank accounts will be in the black
Robert Fisk
23 hours ago
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jared-kushner-palestinians-israel-peace-deal-us-trump-jerusalem-west-bank-a8474536.html
There is also a video of Ahed within, She says she was subjected to many violations during her interrogation.
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Meanwhile Trump is basking in the reflected glory of his meeting with Her Maj. At least, that’s how he sees it. Ridiculous man.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/03/donald-trump-rejects-claims-15-minutes-late-meet-queen-says/
Click for a Jerusalem Post special report from 2016 on Donald Trump and J__ish interests.
Maurice Samuels, director of Yale University’s “Program for the Study of Antisemitism” is quoted as saying
“Affirmative prejudice is a good term, and I prefer it to philosemitism. As soon as you begin viewing J__s as a group, either positively or negatively, you’re veering into very problematic territory. It’s a process of ‘othering’ and separating that usually doesn’t end well for J__s.”
Screen out the academic posturing, and this is an excellent strategic statement of J__ish racism, as befits Samuels in his role.
It reminds me of some fascist J__s who tried to disrupt meetings attended by Jenny Tonge and others. When the chairman used the word “you” against the most gobby of them, the fascists told him he was being “racist”. Any guesses as to whether they thought of themselves as a “we”?
Racism gives people rabies. They have outrageous double standards.
Such J__ish racists, I am quite sure – or at least, those who have any coherence in their minds – believe that the “self-respecting” Gentile “should” be an “anti-Semite”, just as they believe that the “self-respecting” Palestinian “should” be a “terrorist”.
Which is not to say that the believe all Gentiles are “anti-Semites”. The concept of the “stupid goy” is a long-lasting feature of J__ish folklore and it appeared in “dogwhistle” form in this year’s Eurovision song contest winner.
Meanwhile, will one result of the fascist racist Z__nazi destruction of Jeremy Corbyn’s career be the institutionalised acceptance in Britain of a concept of “the Palestine problem”?
Everybody knows that many J__s (certainly not all) are as racist as fuck. But not a single public figure dares say it.
(As for the term “anti-Semitism”, it is pretty stupid. There are more than 300 million Arabs who are Muslims or Christians, and most Ashkenazi J__s have little Semitic ancestry.)
It’s nothing to do with religion. A native Icelander who converted to judaism would not become a semite (unless Yahweh himself popped down to fix the DNA). Not for nothing is Arabic the world’s most widely-spoken semitic language.