The Ubiquity of Evil 4215


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.


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4,215 thoughts on “The Ubiquity of Evil

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  • Vivian O'Blivion

    Trump’s “honest broker” for Middle East peace, Jared Kushner has been trying to destroy the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine.

    https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/03/trump-palestinians-israel-refugees-unrwaand-allies-seek-end-to-refugee-status-for-millions-of-palestinians-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-unrwa-israel-palestine-peace-plan-jared-kushner-greenb/

    In e-mails uncovered by Foreign Policy he discusses the need for “honest and sincere effort to disrupt UNRWA”. Those included in the exchange are the usual bunch of hand picked, impartial, diplomatic veterans you would expect to bring about “the deal of the century”.

    • N_

      Thanks for this. Kushner (imagine somebody like him calling an institution “corrupt”!) also wrote, “Our goal can’t be to keep things stable and as they are. (…) Sometimes you have to strategically risk breaking things in order to get there.” That is Fa卐ebook talk, and also big at Google and probably the other three FAANGer companies too. I doubt Kushner is particular intelligent. Certainly his father wasn’t, otherwise he wouldn’t have ended up in jail. He’s just repeating words, and he appears confused over both “goal” and “strategy”. However, there IS a goal, I’m sure.

  • quasi_verbatim

    It should not be forgotten that Parliament was near-unanimous in approving Brexit. They own it, and the Deep State/Privy Council Executive Hegemony will ensure that they continue to own it.

    It is also clear by now that all Brexits are hard Brexits and in this context there is no such thing as soft.

    Allthough they might expect the trough-feeding to continue, it is highly unlikely that Parliamentarians will remain entirely unscathed by the coming general distress.

  • Smiling Through

    New Labour was largely constructed on money drawn by Lords Levy and Mendelsohn from wealthy supporters of Israel. That’s how Blair in opposition could afford Alastair Campbell, Jonathan Powell et al.

    Corbyn, with a mass membership, doesn’t need that financial backing and thus enjoys a freedom Israel cannot permit. He has to be taken down as he also threatens to be an example to other political radicals.

    Ditto his social media reach threatens Israel backers like media magnates Murdoch. So they have to be targetted too.

    Many of Corbyn’s PLP opponents are former NUS playpen politicos who owe their early career to backing from the well-resourced Union of Jewish Students and once in Parliament to the Labour Friends of Israel promotion ladder under Blair and Brown.

    All of this has been monitored in detail by Lobster magazine for 20 years.

      • Smiling Through

        Lobster magazine in online here – https://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/index.php

        Two articles relating to Corbyn and “Labour’s antisemitism problem” are in this issue – https://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/issue74.php

        This is how editor Robin Ramsay introduces his 2002 article Blair and Israel:

        “In January 1994, three months before John Smith’s death, the then shadow Home Secretary Tony Blair, with wife Cherie Booth, went on a trip to Israel at the Israeli government’s expense – a trip, incidentally, neither the Sopel nor Rentoul biographies of Blair mentioned. Blair had always been sympathetic to Israel, had shared chambers with Board of Deputies of British Jews President Eldred Tabachnik, and had joined the Labour Friends of Israel on becoming an MP.

        “Two months after returning from Israel, Tony Blair was introduced to Michael Levy at a dinner party by Gideon Meir, the number two in the Israeli embassy in London. (3) Levy was a retired businessman who had made his money creating and then selling a successful record company and had become a major fund-raiser for Jewish charities. Levy was ‘dazzled by Blair’s drive and religious commitment’ and the two men became friends. A month later the leader of the Labour Party, John Smith, died, and Blair won the leadership election contest with Gordon Brown – in some accounts with financial assistance from Levy. All accounts are agreed that Michael Levy then set about raising money – the figure of £7 million is widely quoted – for the personal use of his new ‘friend’, Tony Blair, leader of the Labour Party.”

        He concludes it:

        “By 1994 it was clear that, barring a miracle, the Tories would lose the next General Election; Tony Blair was widely recognised as one of Labour’s coming men; and there had already been speculation in the media – notably in The Sunday Times – that he would succeed John Smith as Labour leader. It is hard to read this account of the events from Blair’s trip to Israel to the funding of his private office and not conclude that the Israeli government had spotted Blair as a very pro-Israeli politician and possible leader of the Labour Party and steered him towards the leading Jewish fund-raiser in London.

        “As leader of the party, with the Levy-raised money in his ‘blind trust’, Blair achieved financial independence from the trade unions and the Labour Party. Blair hated the Labour Party and viewed it as his enemy. (8) With the Levy money Blair was able to begin expanding his private office and he hired Alastair Campbell, former Political Editor at the Daily Mirror as his press officer in September 1994 and diplomat Jonathan Powell as his chief of staff in January 1995. The Labour Party now had a leader over whom it had no control at all.”

    • nevermind

      Very succinctly pu , smiling through, thank you. The splitting of the Labour party sermss to be thr omly way the PLP and its zio handlets can now prevent JC from becoming Pm, what a thoroughly disgusting bunch of self serving pseudo socialists.

    • Republicofscotland

      Chris.

      I’ve read Mark’s Secret Affairs book, which is packed with info on declassified British government documents pertaining to British actions overseas. So from that perspective Curtis appears genuine.

    • Robyn

      Yes, I’m sure Mark Curtis is genuine. Everything he writes is meticulously researched and referenced.

    • nevermind

      I can vouch for Prof.Nafeez Ahmeds research which has struck me as thorough in the past. Thanks for the link Chris.

      • Sharp Ears

        and that’s why the Guardian sacked him. Jonathan Cook writes:

        Why the Guardian axed Nafeez Ahmed’s blog
        4 December 2014
        Nafeez Ahmed’s account of the sudden termination of his short-lived contract to write an environment blog for the Guardian is depressingly instructive – and accords with my own experiences as a journalist at the paper.

        Ahmed is that rare breed of journalist who finds stories everyone else either misses or chooses to overlook; he regularly joins up the dots in a global system of corporate pillage. If the news business were really driven by news rather than a corporate-friendly business agenda, publications would be beating a path to his door.

        Instead he has been mostly ploughing a lonely furrow as a freelance journalist, bypassing the media gatekeepers by promoting himself on social media, and placing his articles wherever a window briefly opens. His 43,000 followers on Twitter are testament to his skills as a journalist – skills, it seems, that are in short demand even at the bastions of liberal journalism.
        That neglect looked like it might finally be remedied last year when the Guardian gave him a blog.
        [..]
        In July, as Israel began its massive assault on Gaza, Ahmed published a post revealing a plausible motivation – Gaza’s natural gas reserves – for Israel’s endless belligerence towards the enclave’s Hamas government. (The story had until then been confined to minor and academic publications, including my own contribution here.) Israel wanted to keep control over large gas reserves in Gaza’s waters so that it could deny Hamas a resource that would have bought it influence with other major players in the region, not least Egypt.

        /..

        https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2014-12-04/why-the-guardian-axed-nafeez-ahmeds-blog/

    • mog

      I regard Curtis as reliable, as far as handling facts goes.
      I do not subscribe to the concept of ‘blowback’ which runs through his analysis though. Blowback suggests unintended consequences, mishap, an embarrassment for the secret state -as their plots and plans abroad come home to terrorise the domestic population. However, if radicals-killing-UK-citizens has been recognised (by the deep state) as a consequence of secret proxy warfare for sixty or so years then events like Manchester cannot be considered ‘unintended’ (can they?). You have to conclude that it is considered and either accepted or invited as a consequence.
      Craig wrote on May 25th 2017 [‘That Critical Threat’]:
      For the record, I do not think it is remotely likely the British state was implicated in the attack. I knew a lot of senior people in the security services, and a few in special forces, and there is not a single one I suspect would do this kind of thing, or not actively seek to stop it if they came across it. I simply discount the idea.
      Why was it not ‘remotely likely’? Is it still not ‘remotely likely’?
      If MI6 (or their subsidiaries) are prepared to employ radicalised proxy fighters in the full knowledge that they risk domsestic terrorism, is that really much of a leap in to ‘evil’ from, say, outright complicity in a strategy of tension of false flag terror to swing political sentiment firmly to the right during an election campaign?
      In my view, the Left has struggled to understand ‘evil’.

      Alexander Haig blamed the 181/2-minute gap in a crucial Watergate tape recording on “sinister forces.

        • Shatnersrug

          Mog,

          Having just read through a long gruesome list of Britain’s colonial… I won’t even call it a war, I mean is it a war when you send men out to hunt down villagers and return with their heads? Is it a war when you starve 3 million Indians for rice you’re not sure you need, is it a war when you shoot 14 protesters in the head on the shankley road? War implies there are two sides, I describe the British army more like a plough, and that of course is when they bother to use the army, why not send a few experts and a massive stockpile of rockets and stragticially bomb the Yemenis into…submission? Oh no, then you’d have to feed the buggers, no no much better to starve them to death.

          True evil, that the British Empire, and it hasn’t stopped, it hasn’t calmed down and it’s certsinly not in decline, no matter how much poverty and recession they’re prepared to allow back home.

          The colonial forces act as one, and that act is death to anyone who stands in the way of their exploitation of global resources and labour.

          The Left such as it is in Britain has only ever managed to bargain a reprieve from the brutality for those who live within England’s green and pleasant and even then only scraps that were more generously dispersed in the south.

          The British Colonial practice – and yes that includes supposedly separate countries – the USA Canada Austrailia South Africa and Israel (and before the Irish Republic pat themselves on the back, what are they truly other than the great Laundry for all that filthy lucre) is a master of divide and rule.

          So I don’t get my hopes to high, I follow the Gramsci maxim I learned from the great Stuart Hall – Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will, because truly if we look at all that is awful in the human world, and just how much of it is generated by the British- now western hegemony, then there is no point in fighting. But every skirmish we fight, every left leader we put into a position of power that upsets the order, take this week – to watch the British media go into melt down because their propaganda collapsed around them and there antisemitism smears, just to see how much they hate Corbyn. To watch Dpac hols the DWP to account and embarrass them, all these tiny little battles, they’re all a kick in the shins to these bastards.

      • Ezekiel

        [ Mod: You also posted on this thread as John O’Dowd. 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. ]

        Spot on Mog.

        Blowback is regarded as a ‘price worth paying’ for prosecuting Elite interests abroad.

        The UK government is fully committed to (and indeed they, their friends and their families in many cases directly benefit from) pursuing the business interests of the banking, military-industrial-sucurity elites, which are presented as the “National Interest”.

        Our government(s) are fully owned by and at the disposal of these interests. The ‘democratic’ superstructure is a sham.

        It matters not how we vote – the government (of whatever colour) is owned by these interests.

        One notable exception is Corbyn – whose albeit fairly moderate – threat to these interests is unacceptable to them.

        Hence the relentless attacks on him and his party. Hence the absurdity of claiming Corbyn and Labour are ant-semitic.

        For an excellent dissection of this read Daniel Finn’s excellent analysis here:

        https://jacobinmag.com/2018/04/jeremy-corbyn-antisemitism-labour-party

        Nothing must get in the way of business – and all methods: war, murder, regime change – are legitimate and the inevitable blowback
        is the price that wee lassies at a concert pay for the privilege of being governed by these monsters.

      • Hatuey

        “events like Manchester cannot be considered ‘unintended’“

        Events like Manchester are the cost of doing business. They’re neither intended or unintended from a UK standpoint. But they’re a risk.

        Blowback is a technical term, and Mark Curtis never invented it. Personally, I thought his book on the subject was pretty weak.

        There’s nothing mysterious about any of this stuff. If kids from your school go and beat up and rob kids from a nearby school, what are the possible consequences of that? Obviously there could be some sort of retaliatory response. Foreign policy is no different.

        The intelligence services are primarily there to do two things — 1) keep an eye on the nearby school playground, and 2) keep an eye on our playground. If they discover anything potentially problematic then they have options.

        The clever part, keeping the general public in the dark, has more to do with academia and the media than intelligence. As much as robbing kids from the nearby school is considered essential and fundamental, it’s important that our gang think we are intervening to oppose bullies or something noble.

        I’ve long held the view that most reasonably well educated people know how all this works and know that their/our living standards probably depend on it. It’s really pretty obvious. You’d need to go out of your way not to know…

        • SA

          @There’s nothing mysterious about any of this stuff. If kids from your school go and beat up and rob kids from a nearby school, what are the possible consequences of that? Obviously there could be some sort of retaliatory response. Foreign policy is no different.”

          Hatuy
          What you wrote above is revenge not blowback. As I understand it blowback means using someone (usually with violent means ) as a proxy to harm someone else only to have the person you used attacking you.

          • Hatuey

            Curtis uses examples along the lines you suggest in his book, the mujahadeen etc., but it’s a vague concept. Blowback simply explains how solutions and behaviour can come back to haunt you in later on.

            In the example I gave, it wouldn’t be revenge if the kids from the school that got attacked took it out on innocent pupils from the attacker’s school.

      • pete

        Yes, “blowback” suggests unintended consequences, the consequences cannot be unintended if they are part of the design. For example the car industry in America came under fire in 1965 with the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsafe_at_Any_Speed
        which revealed that safety features were low on the list of priorities in vehicle design. The dangers were known but ignored. Drivers were the cause of accidents said the industry, not the cars.
        Similarly the tobacco industry in the USA knew in 1953 that their product was injurious to health, it was not until 1999 that the case reached the Department of Justice Civil Division Action Center due to the prevarication of the Tobacco Industry: https://www.justice.gov/civil/case-4
        I have no doubt that the Western nations plan for the middle east, whatever they may be, will follow a similar trajectory. That plan is likely to be the exploitation of the resources and land of the territory to the detriment of the indigenous population. The main stream media ignores this because they know, in whatever passes for a heart, the the future of the west lies in that exploitation and, since that is what they are getting paid to say, they would be foolish to contradict it. This is why I follow Craig’s blog.

    • Clark

      Chris Abbott, that’s an excellent article, well researched in depth. Mark Curtis and Nafeez Ahmed are both serious researchers and conscientious commentators.

      It is clearly not a conspirology piece; note the extensive references to diverse mainstream publishers, many of which would be editorially dismissive of Curtis’ and Ahmed’s implications. Conspirology pieces generally just quote a handful of other conspirology-friendly pieces in an echo-chamber fashion – and this also seems to be the standard procedure in most of the MSM.

  • Andyoldlabour

    The all out assault on Jeremy Corbyn continues. It now appears that Jewish leaders in the UK say that JC cannot do anything to repair the damage he has done – what damage has he or anyone else done?

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/there-is-no-action-that-jeremy-corbyn-can-take-that-will-deal-with-this-crisis-furious-jewish-leaders-react-to-corbyns-bland-and-meaningless-response-to-claims-he-is-a-threat-to-their-community/ar-BBLtj75?li=BBoPWjQ

    It is very difficult to aim criticism solely at the state of Israel when “Jewish” leaders are coming out with this bile
    We are a population of around 65 million, so how are we going to let a Jewish population in the UK of 250 thousand – 1 in 260 – dictate to us what we should and shouldn’t think. How dare they try to interfere in our politics.

    • N_

      A small minority of British J__s support Jeremy Corbyn. Note that the J__ish Nazis who are trying to bring him down are incensed by the fact that Labour has not slurpingly kowtowed to the IHRA, a shitty, evil and totally hypocritical organisation which, far from giving the slightest damn about commemorating the real Holocaust, is solely concerned with furthering the aims of J__ish capitalist power, one of whose tools is the Nazi regime in occupied Palestine known as “I__ael”. In one piece I read in Haaretz, the writer was saying sure, left-wing anti-Z__nists are fine at defending poor J__s, such as the J__s who were under attack by real live fascists at Cable Street, but why don’t they support rich billionaire J__s? “The bastards are trying to split us!” etc.

      Have any Tories (or for that matter, any Liberal Democrats) come to Jeremy Corbyn’s defence? As far as I am aware, the answer is “no”. They seem remarkably sanguine about an international power with hundreds of thousands of supporters in Britain trying to put the boot into an established British political party. What’s with that? Isn’t there a word for this?

      • Andyoldlabour

        “an international power with hundreds of thousands of supporters in Britain trying to put the boot into an established British political party. What’s with that? Isn’t there a word for this?”

        It is clearly meddling/hacking/interfering, and if it is being carried out by dual citizenship holders or UK nationals, then it is treason.

        • Jo1

          Oh come on! Those shouting loudest for Corbyn’s head are in the PLP! They’re three years (nearly) into their crusade. Hodge’s disgusting stunt was just part of the latest stage and the anti-S tactic was planned. The MSM is encouraging it. The BBC is up to its neck in it. Oh there’s treachery involved for sure but the people who are trying to destroy a political Party are many, many MPs within it.

        • Shatnersrug

          N_ and Andy – you’re falling into the Israeli trap. Getting frustrated with the supposed “Jewish” community, when there really isn’t one. Believe me 90% of British Jewish folk do not want their supposed race discussed in this way.

          It’s a classic colonial trick to lavish supposed attention on one minority at the expense of another. Hell, in Africa the British actually imported thousands of Indians that they bestowed responsibility and wealth upon. It’s classic divide and rule. And Jewish Brits are currently being exploited in the most fowl way.

          But don’t just Blame isreal – this is a concerted attempt from all colonial forces. Americans, Israelis but above all thr British establishment of which the Labour right are firmly a part.

          There is only one way to fight back against these fuckers and that’s with solidarity. And boy do they know that. Much clearer than most on here it seems.

          Don’t fall for the scape goats

          • Jo1

            So if people of this particular religion are being “exploited” then how come three separate publications representing that religion were able to publish a joint editorial last week attacking Corbyn without being challenged by their own community?

            Why aren’t Labour MPs of that religion, like Hodge and the many others, being called out for misleading and, essentially, lying?

            I do find your post interesting and I’m thinking it through but, as I said in another post, I’ve never witnessed anything like the sort of venom being hurled at Corbyn.

      • Carmel Townsend

        N at 12.14 pm I am a Liberal Democrat and believe, totally that Jeremy Corbyn is being hung out to dry. I remark on this, on a regular basis, not always supported by my friends, but someone has to do it – and Labour people are not.
        What are they afraid of? Surely they can see that these attacks on Corbyn, are nothing short of treacherous; the one aim being, to split the Labour party and give us right-wing governments ad infinitum. Some other people say Corbyn should come out fighting, but I’m not certain this would be helpful. Jeremy Corbyn is not anti-Semitic, and people know that, but repetition and lies are everything.

      • Jo1

        What I increasingly cannot stand is this, “protecting the J***** community” phrase that is being trotted out. What are the implications? That one particular “community” has the clout to completely dominate politics , indeed, with the wholehearted support of some governments, many MPs and the print and broadcasting media? That only one “community” has the “right” to “protection” and every other sort of “community” can go hang? That anyone who objects to this utterly sinister crusade is immediately rounded on and their reputation trashed? My goodness, if only we all had the power and influence that this small group have acquired! If only all “minorities” could command such fear!

        • Andyoldlabour

          @Joe1,
          Exactly how I feel about the situation. How can a relatively tiny group wield such power?

      • FranzB

        This is anti-semitic rubbish.

        “A small minority of British J__s support Jeremy Corbyn”

        I doubt this is true. Any evidence? Even were it to be true, so what. No SNP members support Jeremy Corbyn. I thought people were free to decide which political aims they support.

        “Note that the J__ish Nazis …”

        A Nazi can’t be Jewish – a key element of Nazi ideology is hatred of Jews. If you mean Zionists say so.

        “the IHRA, a shitty, evil and totally hypocritical organisation ….. is solely concerned with furthering the aims of J__ish capitalist power, ….”

        The IHRA is an intergovernmental agency, one of whose aims is to counter anti-semitism. If you disagree with its definition of anti Semitism describe what your differences are. Personally, I agree with Tony Greenstein, that an anti-semite is someone hostile to Jews merely because they are Jewish.

        https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/

        There’s no such thing as Jewish capitalist power – this is anti-semitic rubbish.

        “… the Nazi regime in occupied Palestine known as “I__ael”. …. ”

        How can Israel be a Nazi regime. A key element of Nazi ideology is hatred of Jews.

        “They seem remarkably sanguine about an international power with hundreds of thousands of supporters in Britain trying to put the boot into an established British political party.”

        Last time I looked Israel’s man about town in the UK Shah Masot’s object of desire was Alan Duncan who is a Tory. The people trying to get rid of Corbyn are Labour party MPs such as John Mann and Ian Austin. 172 Labour Mps voted against Corbyn in the June 2016 coup. As Lord Blunkett said at the time – with Corbyn as leader Labour would be annihilated in a General Election.

        • skyblaze

          “with Corbyn as leader Labour would be annihilated in a General Election.”

          which did NOT happen and Labour increased their hold, which is exactly why these BS claims of anti-semetism have been concocted. Somehow trying to trade on holocaust sympathy to make out that Corbyn and the genuine left part of Labour is some kind of evil…its sad

        • porthaul

          FranzB says

          ”This is anti-semitic rubbish.” and ”A Nazi can’t be J-wish ”

          FranzB might care to explain this former IDF soldier giving a speech on camera at a recent ‘free Tommy’ rally in London? –
          ____________________

          “I am the World’s proudest J-wish Nazi” on the streets of London supporting #FreeTommy”

          https://twitter.com/TheBirmingham6/status/1023944974684094464
          ____________________

          FranzB;

          Do you now accept ”J-wish Nazi’s” exist?
          And that they have been trained by the IDF?

          Jeremy Corbyn should pin this footage to his feed with the words – ”This is why we cannot accept the IHRA definitions. We need to confront every sort of Nazi that exists today, including J-wish ones.”

    • Anti-semantic

      Treeza, despite 3 visits by sata.nyahu refuses to join in an Iran attack, before they bring her down they have to have JC out of the way too, he will be an even bigger obstacle. Time is running out as Trump 2020 is not a certainty.

      • Sharp Ears

        Terrible slander of Jeremy Corbyn on LBC this morning when Andrew Pierce of the Heil was running the phone in. He did actually correct one caller who said that JC was ‘well known as a J.w hater’. He told the caller that there was no evidence of that but he allowed the caller to carry on of course. I lost count of the number of times I heard the word ‘anti-semitic’ throughout the session. I switched it off.

        • Anti-semantic

          When an Alan Sugar is ready to write off his £200m “yer fired” (JC supporters may be expected to boycott now) big earner, the sanhedri must be under a double whip from Ronson. War may be around the bend and only an unlikely ayatollah change in Iran will save the day.

        • Anon1

          While you talk about the “Heil”, it’s worth mentioning that the poster you are replying to (English Knight etc) looks forward to the day that the J.ws are herded on to cattle trucks and sent to extermination camps.

        • Garth Carthy

          I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that Corbyn is being attacked with such viciousness.
          I’ve known for some time that the Jewish lobby is very powerful but I hadn’t quite realised to what extent;
          I saw a list today of the Jewish Neo-cons. Virtually all of the big names among the Neo-cons appear to be Jewish.
          As the Israeli government and establishment are backed by the Neo-cons and visa versa, there seems to be a perfectly symbiotic relationship between the two countries. Israel is just another American state in all but name.
          I may appear to be rather naïve but I simply didn’t realise the massive degree of control that Jews have in world affairs.
          To those who think I may seem anti-Semitic for pointing out this unhealthy domination – well tough – suck it up!
          Nobody is more arrogantly racist than the Jewish movers and shakers in the US and Israel who control most of the world’s economy, financial institutions, big corporations, and decide they want to control the rest of the world – and let’s face it – that’s what the Neo-con “Project for the New American Century” policy document actually proposes:
          Hitler’s gang had similar ideas of world domination and we know how the Nazis ended up (unfortunately millions of lives were lost on both sides in the process).

          It’s sad, because apart from this awful stain on Israel, Jews have so much to be proud of: They have produced some of the world’s greatest scientists, thinkers, psychologists, etc.

          • FranzB

            GC – “I may appear to be rather naïve but I simply didn’t realise the massive degree of control that Jews have in world affairs. To those who think I may seem anti-Semitic for pointing out this unhealthy domination – well tough – suck it up!”

            I won’t suck it up as you suggest – this is anti-semitic rubbish. Any evidence for this nonsense?

            China, Russia, EU, etc., etc. – I doubt if these are run by a secret cabal of Jews.

            As for the USA, it would be easier to put forward a conspiracy that the USA is a run by a secret cabal of white male protestants, than by Jews.

            As for Aipac, Mearsheimer and Walt have it that the Israel lobby in the USA is a broad coalition of disparate interests. It isn’t some cabal or conspiracy.

        • Jo1

          I heard appalling stuff on Radio 5 Live late last night. Usual BBC “political commentator” claptrap implying it was clearly “anti-S” to discipline Margaret Hodge when she had lost relatives to the N**** during WW2! Really, BBC?

      • Republicofscotland

        Well Theresa, is far too busy sucking up to Macron just know, begging for his help on Brexit. I suppose it makes a change from the vomit inducing hand holding she does with the Trumpster.

    • snickid

      “how are we going to let a Jewish population in the UK of 250 thousand – 1 in 260 – dictate to us what we should and shouldn’t think. How dare they try to interfere in our politics.”
      _____________________________________________________________________________________

      This is an antisemitic remark. British Jews are just as much ‘us’ as are any other group of British citizens.

      I too am shocked at the way in which the Blairites / Israel lobby are trying to simultaneously skewer Corbyn and Palestinian rights defenders. However, it is totally unacceptable to use the kind of language you have here.

      • Jo1

        I disagree and I will explain why.
        The group in question have made it clear they are quite separate from everyone else. They also make it clear that they’re prepared to disrupt politics here in order to pursue their own specific agenda AND prepared to destroy and smear anyone who disagrees with them. So far, they have not behaved as if they see themselves as part of a wider diverse community, they have focused only on their group, their religion. They are not “us” and their rhetoric suggests that when they speak of “us” they mean only their group. It’s their own “us” they demand “protection” for. I’ve not heard calls for “protection” for all British citizens of all religions from them…have you?

        • Shatnersrug

          JO, sounds like you need to meet so Jewish people, because the folk you’re describing are political zionists. There are plenty of lefty Jewish that hate political Zionism, please don’t imagine they’re all together because it’s simply untrue

          • Jo1

            Shatnersrug
            This is the thing tho’. There are so many who deplore what I***** has come to stand for and who share the J***** faith. Prominent writers too…yet it’s as if they don’t exist. I apologise if I’m giving a bad impression of myself but I’m genuinely shocked by what we’re caught up in.

          • flamingo

            Thank you Shatnersrug, thank you for clarity and level headed focus and a sense of perspective. I support every comment you make in these threads and trust Corbyn and the team supporting him can succeed at the National Executive Committee. It is the Blairites that need to be expelled and the anti semitism nonsense needs to be addressed squarely for the dishonesty that it is.

            Sure there is a potent zionist nationalist meddling in political affairs but it is a cultural/political pollution that needs to met squarely and not have people seduced or foiled into racist rants. It is the ideology of supremacy that needs be defeated here: the supremacy of Blairite establishment manipulation. Not a race of people.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ Andyoldlabour August 4, 2018 at 11:53
      The ones that do ‘dare to interfere’ because they or their ‘friends’ control the MSM, and they know they will be allowed to get away with it.

    • Doug Scorgie

      It’s our democracy that is at stake. Practically the whole of the MSM, the “establishment”, the tories and the right-wingers in the Labour Party are in cahoots with Zi..its supporters who’s primary concern is for a foreign country.
      If they succeed in demolishing Corbyn’s Labour Party in the next election then British democracy will be exposed as a con.
      It is the British electorate that should be free to decide without state and the MSM and Isr.eli propaganda.

      It seems that all Zi..nists in Britain should register as agents of a foreign power.

      • Jo1

        All very well, Doug, but keep remembering that the support in the main is coming directly from Labour Party MPs! This latest bile kicked off when the Government is clearly faltering, when Brexit looms …when Labour are ahead in polls, yet Labour MPs decide Margaret Hodge will openly attack Corbyn in the Chamber during a Brexit-related vote…? They don’t give a toss about the electorate. They’re getting away with it.

          • Garth Carthy

            “about time Corbyn got rid of these wasters”.
            Absolutely. He should also tell them in no uncertain terms what a treacherous bunch of conniving snakes they are for being brought to the bidding of the US and Israeli Neo-cons.

          • Shatnersrug

            Jazza, a lot of folks don’t understand the workings of the Labour Party. We have a thing called the National Executive Committee that is there -supposedly – to prevent any leader seizing control. The NEC is where the big internal political struggles within the Labour Party happen, control the NEC and you control the party – now that’s not easy because NEC members are elected by rank and file members, what Blair/Mandelson did was to saddle it full of yes men and women, he drove away many Labour Party members and eventually filled the party with stooges like John McTernan and Jim Murphy. The NEC has been Blairite controlled for a long time now and they became complacent, that’s how Corbyn was allowed to slip through. You can read the background in Alex Nunns brilliant “The Candidate”

            http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/candidate-alex-nunns-2nd-edition/

            So what we on the left have been doing is slowly working to restore democracy to the NEC, there are 9 left wing slate candidates which could give the Corbyn left a majority on the NEC. Well at the last minute a recording of one candidate – Pete Willsman(a long time campaigner against racism) was leaked supposedly with him having an antisemitic rant. Of course it wasn’t you can hear it here

            https://skwawkbox.org/2018/07/30/audio-willsman-recording-and-the-mismatch-between-what-was-said-and-whats-claimed/

            That’s what this particular antisemitism smear is all about. The Labour right are conniving to have a NEC member off the committee and therefore stop any kind of democratic review – a plank of which is to end the concept of an MP as a job for life, should we win our case then Labour MPs would have to run a fresh ballot before every election to make sure there still worthy of the job. Obviously this would be bad news for business and Foreign lobbies who currently believe they own certain MPs.

            So as far the Labour right and establishment are concerned this must be stopped and all costs, and the Israeli Embassy with all its connections in the media and political class have been charged with the job of doing it.

            It’s a terrible choice too, personally I don’t think there are enough Jewish folk in the uk for the general public to really care that much, and unfortunately there is a lot of low level racism in the country at the moment anyway. So it tends to suit Israeli needs back home in Israel better than it does the Labour Right in the UK. Israel have s long history of trying to scare foreign Jewish folk with the threat of antisemitism with the hope they’ll move to Israel and bump the numbers up.

            The thing to remember is that most British Jews are just that – British, they’re not Israeli and have no interest in living there. Some my support the idea of a country for Jews because they’ve been taken in by the Israel propaganda, but they remain steadfastly British – some are even Scottish!! So please please don’t start blaming “the Jews” political Zionism is a 19th century concept that came along at the same time as blood and soil fascism, that became a reality after WW2 when it was decided that a western colony in the Middle East would be a good idea. That’s what it is after all. Political Zionism was not solely the preserve of Jews there are Christian zionists too and they work together, although who knows how much longer that will last.

            Anyhow, that’s where we are now. Fighting the age old fight – the people against Capital, Colonialism and Empire. They would kill us all in a minute if they thought they could, but they’re quite happy watching us kill each other

            Solidarity brother. Together we stand, DIVIDED WE FALL

          • porthaul

            Shatnersrug writes ”That’s what this particular antisemitism smear is all about.”

            Its also about, as a filthy Blairite minion put it on Sky news recently, making Labour accept the IHRA terms in full (with examples) so they can remove Corbyn aides/allies/supporters such as Seamus Milne from their advisory positions for articles they wrote in the G 10+ years ago, holding the Israli goverments to account for their barbarity against the defenseless.

            What a bunch of appalling humans. All for money.

      • Charles Bostock

        Scorgie

        “It seems that all Zi..nists in Britain should register as agents of a foreign power.”

        Surprised you don’t advocate making them all wear a yellow Star of David.

  • N_

    “Welshmen” built Stonehenge, reports much of the media today. Sure they weren’t Coca-Cola drinkers or Cardiff City fans?

    Things were not always as they are now. All brands were born. The circle and horseshoe at Stonehenge are more than twice as old as Wales. Both the Stonehenge structure and Wales are human constructs.

    Sometimes I feel like I have to tell mainstream writers how to blow their noses.

    • ZiggyM

      Of course, we all know that the ‘main contractors’ for the build were the Irish.

      • nevermind

        Not aa bad guess, my money is on Orkneys master builders whos expertise coincided with much of the Dingle and ring of Kerry inhabitants.

        Time will tell, much is still to be learned.

        • N_

          For the record, the upright stones in at least some of the trilithons at Stonehenge have knobs on which fit into mortised holes in the lintels. As far as I know, that technique was not used in any other stone circles anywhere.

    • Republicofscotland

      N.

      I recall reading years ago that lock millionaire Cecil Hubb, bought Stonehenge for his wife as a present. She wasn’t impressed with the gift, so Chubb donated Stonehenge to the nation

    • TJ

      Funny how everything is redacted, except the tiny bit about Steele being being admonished by his handler and told not to collect any more information for the FBI as he had revealed himself as an FBI source. Even more funny is that everything else can be seen unredacted in 2041, the FBI really thinks it’s the 1000 year Reich.

      • Antonyl

        On 02 02 2016 the FBI admonished Christopher Steele (p71), so they were busy with him way before Fusion GPS/ HRC allegedly hired him to make a doggy dossier. Doesn’t fit the MSN narrative of parroting the (self)”Services”.
        “Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear” : 70 ~blanc pages after a FOIA from US Judicial Watch.

    • Antonyl

      Finally a clear case of racism here! White police ‘officers” drag a black farmer from a tractor in a rural area.

  • Paul Barbara

    ‘EXCLUSIVE: To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To Dress Up Navy Seals As Iranians And Shoot At Them’:
    https://thinkprogress.org/exclusive-to-provoke-war-cheney-considered-proposal-to-dress-up-navy-seals-as-iranians-and-shoot-at-dfde0aaa2c4c/

    An old article, but still something to watch out for, as the US won’t stop using ‘False Flags’ as they have always worked in the past.
    They have used them consistently in Syria, and are very likely to use them to start a war against Iran.

    • Xavi

      Dick dodged the draft to vietnam five times, since explaining he was “too busy.”.

      So did his fellow war hawk John Bolton. As did great patriotic commanders in chief Bill Clinton, Dubya Bush and Donald Trump (who described risky sexual encounters in 60s/70s Manhattan as his “own personal Vietnam”)

      • Andyoldlabour

        @Xavi,
        The US and UK public are so stupid, that they keep sending people off to fight foreign wars (against countries which have not attacked us), whilst the politicians who start these wars are total cowards.
        Were any of the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bliar, Brown, Straw, Clinton, Obama, Trump, Cameron, May, children involved in these wars. Did any of their children arrive home at Brize Norton in a bodybag?

        • Xavi

          I think Barbara Bush best summed up their attitude to it all, Andy:

          “Why should we hear about body bags and deaths, and how many, and what day? I mean, it’s not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that, and watch him (dubya) suffer?”

      • Anon1

        Quite a good one that from the Donald. Definitely a better class of draft dodger. And he can keep a clear conscience as he hasn’t started any wars.

        • Xavi

          Yeh, apart from all the bombs he’s dropping and weapons he’s supplying. Might still give you your pointless war with Iran, too. A real hero.

          • Anon1

            So he’s taking out a few headchoppers by drone strike. Cry me a river. Oh, and then there was the empty buildings he bombed in Syria. Such a warmonger!

            He cancelled a bad deal with Iran. He’ll scare the shit out of them and they’ll fold just like North Korea did.

          • skyblaze

            @anon1

            Trump has done nothing to stop the USA meddling in other countries affairs and approved the biggest spending increase on the US military…so yeah warmonger fits

            BTW North Korea have not “folded”

  • Sharp Ears

    Serco. Glasgow. Refugees seeking asylum.

    Glasgow protesters rally against Serco plan to evict asylum seekers
    Campaigners outside Home Office branch in city call for mass eviction to be abandoned
    4th Aug 2018

    Campaigners gathered outside the Home Office branch in Glasgow on Saturday to protest against the threatened mass eviction by the private housing provider Serco of hundreds of asylum seekers who have been told they cannot stay in the UK.

    The protest, organised by a coalition of Scottish refugee charities and anti-racism groups, included the symbolic burning of eviction notices in a brazier. Supporters insist that many of those Serco intends to evict are still pursuing asylum cases, and could have their rejections overturned at a later date. Glasgow city council has said the threat to change people’s locks is causing confusion and panic among the city’s 5,000-strong asylum-seeking community.

    Serco has strongly denied that it plans to make hundreds of people immediately homeless. I said it would give lock-change notices to “no more than six single adult males this week and 12 the next”. It has also confirmed, however, that it is still seeking a “longer-term solution” for 330 over-stayers, 230 of whom had been refused asylum and a further 100 who had been granted leave to remain in the UK.

    /..
    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/04/glasgow-protesters-rally-against-serco-plan-to-evict-asylum-seekers

    Note – ‘Qureshi noted that Glasgow’s asylum housing contract is up for review in 2018/19, and called on the Scottish government to lobby for the contract “to be put back in the hands of Glasgow city council and social landlords so that they can once again humanely accommodate and support refugees and asylum seekers”.

    • Antonyl

      Asylum seekers are to stay in the first safe country. So those in Scotland are from England, Ireland, Norway or Iceland?

      • Anon1

        It’s funny how they pass through so many safe and secure countries to the one with the most generous benefits system.

        • Loony

          There is nothing funny about that – it is just human nature. New arrivals to Europe will naturally gravitate toward the societies that offer them optimal living conditions.

          The funny thing is how the countries with the most developed welfare states wish to continue to attract new welfare claimants. Once you overload any system then it will collapse .

          It seems likely that the governments of these countries – and those that support those governments actively wish to destroy the welfare systems and hurtle both existing populations and new arrivals into abject poverty, and to maximize the chances of a breakdown in law and order – with presumably the ultimate hope being to create some kind of civil war.

          That this is the aim is evident. Why it is the aim is the more problematic question to answer. Those supporting policies that are guaranteed to lead to disaster, a disaster that will most likely encompass their own destruction, seem strangely reticent to explain what it is about their devotion to a death cult is so attractive.

        • porthaul

          Anon1 is one of these pathetic individuals who never in their life takes responsibility for their own actions. Its everyone else’s fault his life turned out to be a servile, hate filled, extremest one.

          Anon1 supports, votes, enables these bastard politicians in shiny suits to cause monumental death and destruction anywhere in the world and then moans like a little bitch when the consequences of his enabling arrive at his doorstep.

          SUCK IT UP Anon1. You vote for the likes of Cameron, Farage, Blair, you enable their wars, you deal with the families that arrive in the UK who’s communities have been devastated by your armies actions. Britain is reaping what it has sowed over the past centuries of imperialism. Enjoy it.

    • N_

      The CEO of Serco is Rupert Soames, former president of the Oxford Union and brother of the mentally retarded Nicholas “wardrobe key” Soames who is a known friend of “Prince” Charles.

      Among its many dirty deeds, which include being a brutal landlord rubbing the faces of large numbers of refugees in the shit, Serco

      • runs immigrant detention centres
      • runs prisons
      • supplies electronic tags for refugees and convicts
      • is well stuck in trousering money out of the state “health” and “education” systems

      Interestingly, Rupert Soames was CEO at Aggreko, a company that sells temporary power generation equipment. There’s going to be a lot of demand for such equipment when we get the fully “hard-on Brexit”.

      Got to wonder what the plans are of companies such as Serco and G4S for the said eventuality. Such information might be very interesting indeed.

      And Soames was CEO at Misys, the seller of software for investment banks’ trading rooms (nice work if you can get it), which is now part of Finastra.

      The phrase “up against the wall” comes to mind.

  • N_

    Are the “royal” family going to murder Meghan Markle’s father Thomas as they murdered Princess Diana in 1997?

    The Sun is calling him a “loose cannon”. That’s the exact same phrase that Princess Diana used in her famous interview to describe how the family viewed her when she didn’t do exactly what the scumsuckers wanted.

    The Sun say:

    Palace aides have reportedly had three top-level crisis meetings about how to deal with the Duchess of Sussex’s family, particularly her loose cannon dad.”

    Top tip: don’t get romantically involved with any member of such a fucked-up, insane, corrupt, murdering family.

    • Anon1

      Yes indeed, N_utter. If you believe what you read in the Sun.

      “Palace aides have reportedly had three top-level crisis meetings”

      Translation from tabloid English: Palace aides have had some meetings to discuss how to heal relations with Meghan’s dad.

      It’s what they want to do, not bump him off you absolute whackjob.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ N_ August 4, 2018 at 15:09
      And if perchance you do, be sure to steer well clear of tunnels, dodgy ‘tampered’ Mercs and/or Mercs where your seat belt doesn’t work, drivers in the pay of the ‘Secret Services’, SAS on big motorbikes and French ambulances.
      And try not to get pregnant with the foetus of someone they don’t approve of.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ N_ August 4, 2018 at 15:09
      It’s not their fault, it comes with the genes…

    • Kempe

      He doesn’t appear to be in much danger yet but surprisingly being burnt to death isn’t something I’d wish on anyone; let alone their children.

      • Paul Barbara

        @ Kempe August 4, 2018 at 17:35
        So I take it you don’t go along with the way the US ‘dealt with’ Waco?

    • Sharp Ears

      Brave firefighters are risking their lives again.

      One of the comments on there – Roast pork anyone?

      Forever there will be a connection in the collective mind between pigs and Agent Cameron.

      And Sarah Palin too. ‘The origins of the porcine proverb. When Barack Obama told a crowd at a campaign event on Tuesday, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,” the McCain campaign swiftly took offense, claiming the analogy was directed at vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin.10 Sep 2008’

      • Sharp Ears

        Unbearable.

        Weekly Weather Report for Monchique, Portugal
        Looking at the weather in Monchique, Portugal over the next 7 days, the maximum temperature will be 42℃ (or 107℉) on Saturday 4th August at around 1 pm. In the same week the minimum temperature will be 14℃ (or 57℉) on Thursday 9th August at around 7 am.
        Monchique, Portugal – weather forecaster is reporting little or no rainfall over the next 7 days.

      • Isa

        People can be so insensitive in comment boxes of newspapers . The fire is still not under control due to high winds , two villages had to be evacuated . Last year over one hundred people died in our Forest fires . Luckily today the wind is strong but it is allowing for planes to fight the fire . Another fire near Lisbon that is worrying but hopefully the weather will subside to normal Temperatures . Thoughts with all the firemen ( 50% are volunteers ) , Brave and Selfless and working under dangerous conditions .

  • ZigZag Wanderer

    Anyone see the Newsnight Assange hit piece last night ? … I just watched it on iplayer and noticed John Sweeney says @ 1.24 that “the genius behind the hack .. was Julian Assange” when referring to the Chelsea Manning “collateral murder” leak.
    Correct me if i’m wrong … I thought it was established that Manning downloaded the video when she was a serving army serviceman and then later passed it on to Wikileaks.
    There was no hack . This is disinformation surely.

      • ZigZag Wanderer

        Thanks for your confirmation. It is quite a lot more than failing to carry out basic fact checking.
        Sweeney , a senior BBC journalist , who has a history of false accusations against Assange via Twitter has knowingly lied to the BBC Newsnight audience and stated that Assange was not only complicit in the theft , via a hack , of US military data , but also that Manning was under instruction from Assange to steal that data.

  • Crispa

    I am a 78 year old member of the Labour Party and a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn. I like many of my generation grew up with a full understanding of the horrors of the holocaust and of the less remembered here Atom bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and would never want or expect there to be anything like these terrible events again.Since then much political water has gone under the bridge. Israel has become established as a powerful state that is sustained and supported by all the current western powers and Russia. It has strong cross parliamentary support here.Israel has changed politically over the last twenty years and now has a strong right wing nationalistic government in keeping with political trends elsewhere.
    From whichever angle one views it, there is currently no existential threat to Israel.
    In this context, the big issue facing the Labour Party is not one of anti-semitism but of anti-Palestinism with the attacks effectively preventing the Labour Party from developing and translating into policy support for the Palestinian cause.Aided by PLP members and the msm they are suppressing the gaining of understanding with a full sense of outrage and the corresponding actions that would follow of the terrible events taking place in Gaza and the other occupied territories. They are deliberate aggressive acts born from a need for denial of what the Israeli government is perpetrating on the Palestinian people and stifling opposition to it; all consistent with the idea of the “ubiquity of evil”.

      • Sharp Ears

        I would, Pete. I have a long statement made by Dr Swee Ang following her arrest and manhandling by the IDF when the flotilla boat on which she was a passenger, was seized and impounded. She was arrested and imprisoned. She was strip searched (that means a full body search), her case was broken open, her belongings were raked through and many of them have been stolen. She is of Asian birth. They were referring to her as ‘China’.

        That is how the Israelis treat a tiny little lady in her 70s who is one of the UK’s senior orthopaedic surgeons. The treatment was vile. All because she dared to support the Palestinians in Gaza. The boat contained a cargo of medical equipment and necessities.

        I hope that it will be available on the internet.

        • Paul Barbara

          @ Sharp Ears August 4, 2018 at 22:14
          And spread among British Medical Journals when she gets back. They may well have shot themselves in the foot with their treatment of her.

        • Charles Bostock

          This post again shows how it is possible to present events and facts in such a way as to give the impression that an inhuman outrage has been committed. Fair enough, to be sure, but one should bear in mind that we’re dealing with propaganda here. Allow me to make the following points:

          1) the meaning of words like “manhandled” and “imprisoned” is evocative…but elastic. For example : is a sitdown demonstrator who gets picked up and carried away being”manhandled” except in the most literal sense of the word? Does detention for a couple of days (before deportation) justify the use of the word “imprisoned”, again except in the most literal sense of the word? Is this not an attempt to stretch events beyond what most people would understand by those words in order to create an as unfavorable picture as possible?

          2) strip-searching : a technique not exclusive to the Israeli authorities, surely? I should think that arrests of many people in many countries are accompanied by strip searches.

          3) breaking open a case : does the opening of an arrested individual’s case (or handbag or briefcase..) against that individual’s will – or if the individual refuses to open or unlock the case herself – justify the use of the emotive term “breaking open”, again except in the most literal use of the word?

          4) “many of her belongings have been stolen” : that should certainly not have happened. But did it? We only have the individual’s word for it and it’s an easy (and unprovable) thing to say once you’re back in your home country. I find it curious that there is no mention of what was “stolen” – although I admit that such information might be contained in Dr Ang’s “long statement”, which appears to be in the possession of the poster but which has not been communicated to us readers by the poster (links, please).

          5) If the Israeli authorities consider that an offence has been committed (I realise many readers will deny this), can a case be made for exempting one of the individuals concerned from the legal consequences on the basis of that individual’s profession or age?

          6) As far as the cargo of the vessel is concerned, is that not irrelevant? Is it not the case that no one on that vessel would seriously think that the cargo (what tonnage, which quantities, which necessities?) would represent more than a drop in the ocean as compared to what it is claimed is needed in Gaza? The truth of the matter is that these flotillas have next to no practical value; they are stunts used for purely political purposes and the individuals concerned know fine well what they are getting into and how the Israeli authorities will deal with them.

          Having said that, I confess that I sometimes wonder whether the Israeli authorities would not be better advised to let such vessels through (after simply verifying the nature of the cargo), thus depriving the anti-Israel lobby of a useful propaganda tool. After one or two successful landings, such operations would, in my opinion, simply fizzle out for lack of novelty value and public attention.

  • Stu

    The Guardian has had quite a week. The Corbyn witch hunt has been front and centre but they have also been working hard for the imperial centre.

    Martin Chulov has an interview with Bin Laden’s mother which amounts to ‘Saudi wasn’t involved in 9/11 and the victims families are wrong to us’. It’s pro MBS propaganda from start to finish and it’s quite chilling to wonder how an article like that even comes together.

    There is also a significant uptick in anti China propaganda. During the week Rockefeller sponsored articles bemoaned Chinese neocolonialism in Cambodia and Pakistan then today an article by Lily Kuo states Xi’s power is waning and casually claims there was an attempted coup on July 13th. The Guardian obviously has it’s role in the trade war.

      • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

        ‘Rhubarb,rhubarb,rhubarb’ as the Qianglong Emperor said to Lord McCartney, the last time until Jeremy Hunt the Brits came begging for an FTA

    • Paul Barbara

      @ Stu August 4, 2018 at 19:58
      Pity she didn’t tell the truth, and tell him that her son wasn’t involved either.

      • Loony

        What exactly is it about Tommy Robinson that allows you not to understand how anyone can take him seriously?

        Is it the fact that he was lifted off the street and jailed for 13 months in the space of 5 hours? Is it the Judgement of the Appeal Court that expresses serious reservations with regard to the speed of the initial handling of the case?

        Is it the fact that he was found guilty of Contempt of Court – but that to this day no-one knows the exact nature of the conetempt.

        Is it the fact that he has spent over 2 months in solitary confinement as a Category C prisoner. Is that what you understand justice to be?

        Maybe you don’t agree with Tommy Robinson, that is fine. Would it be OK if someone you do agree with is lifted off the street, jailed in record time and consigned to solitary confinement for over 2 months?

        If you cannot stand up for the rights of people that you do not agree with – then what does that make you? What happens if people disagree with you – does that free them from any obligation that they may have toward you?

        • fwl

          Loony have a look at thesecretbarrister.com ‘s blog post on the appeal. It’s not to do with the speed and one should remember that there was a suspended sentence from 2017. But if you were concerned at speed then is it not the case that contempt is generally an expedited matter particularly when the matter complained of is happening at the court, or court steps and there is a live trial going on.

          • Loony

            Not according to the Court Appeal who among many other things noted:

            “Such haste gave rise to a real risk that procedural safeguards would be overlooked, the nature of the contempt alleged would remain insufficiently scrutinized and that points of significant mitigation would be missed. Those risks materialized”

            The Court of Appeal noted procedural failure at Leeds Crown Court which they categorized as “much more than a technical failure”

            The appeal was heard by Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice i.e. the most senior figure in the British legal system. His verdict was unquestionably a damming commentary on the competence of the Judge at Leeds Crown Court.

            So what you have is an incompetent Judge who leveraged his incompetence by acting with undue haste. This is the opinion of the most senior Judge in England.

            The Secret Barrister obviously knows a lot of words – and he is using this knowledge to divert and obfuscate.

            The simple fact is that Tommy Robinson was subjected to an unwarranted and unjustifiable expedited judicial process which was manifestly unable to demonstrate that justice was done and seen to be done.

            The question is why. Was the Judge at Leeds simply stupid. Contempt of Court is not an unduly complex areas of law. The selection process for the Judiciary is pretty rigorous – so the chances of ending up with a Judge who does not understand the basics of law is quite low.

            This leaves the most likely alternative that the whole process was infused with some form of political agenda. The politicization of the Judiciary is a very dangerous road to go down. Even if this conclusion is wrong then it remains the case that there is circumstantial evidence and grounds for suspicion that political forces were at work.

            Presumably more information will become available at the retrial – but in the areas that matter it will be the Judiciary that are on trial just as much as Robinson. Only Robinson stands to be punished in the immediate future, but in the longer term everyone will be punished if the Judiciary fails to establish its own impartiality. Impartiality being something that the secret barrister has consigned to the scrapheap.

          • N_

            Most likely, both jailing Robinson and releasing him were the result of judges receiving commands.

            Note that if he’s out of jail he will probably give the world the benefit of his comments on the outcome of the Leeds trial, whatever that outcome may be.

            Robinson seems to have a big political future ahead of him. I won’t be surprised if he plays a major role in the next general election, either outside or inside UKIP or son-of-UKIP but in any case hoiking votes away from Labour.

          • fwl

            Loony, sometimes your posts makes sense and are well expressed, but to say that the secret barrister knows a lot of words and are using their knowledge to divert and obfuscate is incorrect and also revealing. Did you even read her posts?

            I remember reading Zero Hedge posts some of which were certainly interesting and eye opening, but over time it was possible to see a clear pronounced bias, which was at times embarrassing and enough to let me distrust the content even where I couldn’t see the bias. That is the problem with the spin spin spin approach to media; ultimately the spinner loses credibility.

            Interesting article in ST today re Tommy Robinson funding and Cognex and Robert Shillman.

        • bj

          Stop your Robinson Crusade — it’s not me that making Tommy Robinson silly, it’s Tommy Robinson doing that.

          He needs a good PR-department; you ain’t it.

          • Loony

            What Tommy Robinson crusade are you referring to.

            I am referring to the rule of law – and how the ultimately the rule of law depends upon “the ladder of law having no top and no bottom”

            Once you start locking people up because their opinions differ from yours – then why not just go one step further and kill them. If there are a lot of such people then you can always gas them or bomb them. The BBC will probably be quite supportive.

            You seem to be arguing in favor of the “ubiquity of Evil” – I have strange feeling that Mr. Murray intended his post as a warning, not as an encouragement.

        • Paul Barbara

          @ Loony August 4, 2018 at 21:45
          He was in solitary for his own protection, as he had expressed fears he would be attacked in jail.
          Where you not aware of that?

          • Loony

            Yes – I am aware of that. I am also aware of something called the “duty of care” – In this context this means that if a person is in the custody of the state then the state has a duty to protect that person from being attacked. This does not mean that you can further punish people because they fear being attacked.

            Anyone that does not consider the foregoing to be an absolute duty of the state is basically arguing in favor of extra judicial execution.

        • skyblaze

          it was a generalised comment NOT about the specific arrest

          TR is a fake from the start, changing his name from some middle class double barrelled name to some “man of the people” name Tommy

          No sorry I cannot take him or his supporters (right wing lunatics in the main) seriously

        • Jo1

          “What exactly is it about Tommy Robinson…”

          Hmmm, let me think. I have issues with people who have a need to keep changing their name every so often!

        • Jo1

          “What exactly is it about Tommy Robinson…”

          Hmm, let me think. Maybe it’s that he finds it necessary to keep changing his name! That’s always a bad sign, before you even look at his politics!

    • lysias

      If he was completely isolated, that is a kind of torture. If he was allowed, say, to read, then I don’t think it’s torture.

  • fwl

    What would happen if Jeremy Corbyn said anything remotely similar to the words of Major General Yair Golan when he spoke at the Messuah Institute for Holocaust Studies?

    Stones would be thrown and he would be denounced.

    Yet the General is No 2 in the Israeli Defence Force and he dared to say it.

    His words were reported in the Washington Post and the London Review of Books but I didn’t see them elsewhere. They were a warning and were words worth considering. It’s too easy for me to cut and paste his warning here, but it’s worth remembering. I admire the General for his guts.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ fwl August 4, 2018 at 21:14
      And the Jerusalem Post: ‘IDF GENERAL IN BOMBSHELL SPEECH: I^^AEL TODAY SHOWS SIGNS OF 1930S GERMANY’ (just transpose the ‘^’s for sr and search).
      ‘…”It’s scary to see horrifying developments that took place in Europe begin to unfold here,” the officer said….’

      ‘….”The Hol^^aust, in my view, must lead us to deep soul-searching about the nature of man,” Golan said. “It must bring us to conduct some soul-searching as to the responsibility of leadership and the quality of our society. It must lead us to fundamentally rethink how we, here and now, behave towards the other.”
      “There is nothing easier and simpler than in changing the other,” the officer said. “There is nothing easier and simpler than fear-mongering and threatening. There is nothing easier and simpler than in behaving like beasts, becoming morally corrupt, and sanctimoniousness.”
      “On Hol^^aust Remembrance Day, it is worthwhile to ponder our capacity to uproot the first signs of intolerance, violence, and self-destruction that arise on the path to moral degradation,” Golan said.

      • Tony

        Wow! Tip of the cap to General Golan. I wonder if we’ll hear from him again? Maybe his comments and the massive protest show that the moderates in that country have had a bellyfull. We’ll find out soon enough if they have any leverage.

        • Charles Bostock

          It would be interesting to hear former generals of various unsavoury Arab regimes saying (mutatis mutandis) the same sort of thing about their own countries.

          @ fwl – could you please supply a link to the entire speech?

          • fwl

            He made the speech a while ago. Plenty of coverage in the Israeli media if you wish to verify. I certainly concur with CB that this sort of outspoken criticism of one’s own country seems to be rare in other countries in the ME i.e. not permitted and it is worth remembering that Israel has a parliamentary system, a press, a court system, an appeal system and an intelligent and vocal population. The Gatekeepers was another remarkable bit of introspection.

            I accept that Israel is a country which allows self criticism and is relatively tolerant of internal self-criticism, but it is not so tolerant of external criticism. The General’s comments would appear to be unacceptable under parts of the anti-zionist definition which Jeremy Corbyn refuses to accept. That doesn’t seem to be right.

      • Philw

        The speech was in 2016, when he was Deputy Chief of Staff of IDF. He had to issue a retraction, and lost this post soon after.

        Very brave man.

        • Paul Barbara

          @ Philw August 5, 2018 at 09:52
          Yes, a brave and decent man. Pity he retracted (maybe he was threatened with dishonourable discharge and loss of pension).
          There is no room for the truth in I^^ael, and it’s getting hard to espouse it in the UK.

  • Sharp Ears

    The central and local government drive to make us recycle plastic waste is revealed as another sham.

    ‘Most of the plastic food containers that householders wash out after use and put in the recycling bin cannot actually be recycled, it has emerged.

    he Local Government Association says that only a third can be recycled. The rest get sent to landfill.’

    Plastic food pots and trays are often unrecyclable, say councils – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45058971

    Costs so far to councils who set up the schemes, and to council tax payers who get the bill, are not stated.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ Sharp Ears August 4, 2018 at 22:02
      All the same, a third of a lot is a lot. The more plastic removed from the environment the better; the 5p plastic bag tax has certainly worked well. However, the plastic bags supplied for recyclables have got flimsier and flimsier, and my local Council’s ones no longer have loops or tieable bits attached, in a misguided attempt to lessen plastics use. So they break, and need another bag.
      Surely it would be better to use recyclable sturdy plastic bags?

  • Sharp Ears

    Today, in the little ‘democracy in the Middle East’.

    ‘Mass protest in Israel over ‘discriminating’ nation-state law
    4 Aug 2018 | 20:45 GMT

    Tens of thousands are protesting in Tel Aviv against ‘nation-state’ law that prioritized Jewish values in Israel and has been criticized as discriminating sparking local and international condemnation.

    Protesters have been holding signs “If we are brothers we must be equals” and “Our force is in our unity – the nation-state law differentiates between us,” according to the Haaretz newspaper. They were waving Israeli and Druze flags.’

    [..]

    ‘Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to stop the protest by holding talks with Druze leaders but failed.

    “He had no intention of listening us, the officers who have a position contradictory to his own,” Brig. Gen. (res.) Amal Asad Asad said after the meeting on Thursday who previously called Israel “apartheid state” over this law.

    The law, which had been in the works since 2011, has sparked a wave of protests, which spilled over the Israeli border and angered the influential Jewish diaspora in the US. The critics of the bill argue that such wording makes some 1.8 million Israeli Arabs, a quarter of the population, second-class citizens.’

    /..
    https://www.rt.com/news/435129-israel-protest-nation-law/

    • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

      @Sharp Ears
      Many Druze in that state are very unhappy with their ‘compact of blood’ and they get little sympathy from their co-religionists in Lebanon and Syria.The meeting was with Druze officers, I gathered rather than the whole community. The Beduin, who generally do not see themselves as Palestinian and often serve in the army as trackers , are also very discontented.So at least this law works to weaken the IDF in vulnerable areas.(Also blame is often put on a Druze or Bedu in the event of a shooting or incident that gets an’ investigation’ due to rare Western pressure).
      BTW are Samaritans counted as Jws under the law? I can’t find any reference.

    • Antonyl

      Please link to similar protests in Jordan next door ever. How are the dear (Chosen) Palestinians treated there?

      • Paul Barbara

        @ Antonyl August 5, 2018 at 07:45
        I don’t know, but pprobably badly, as ‘King’ Abdullah II of Jordan is in the West’s and the ‘ME Exceptionals’ pockets, as was his father.
        Hussein used to get special call girl facilities provided in his trips to the US, as well as cases full of cash.

  • Radar O’Reilly

    Dear SOCMINT,

    Interesting book review of essential reading for your summer break, a retired head of a big intel agency talking about real spooks, not James Bond or today’s anonymous typists; parenthetically mentions the Cercle Pinay , Gladio A&B, The Safari Club & The Bilderbergers great way to sell books! (*)(**)

    So that’s a few hundred guaranteed sales already, to all the above infamous manipulators and murderers

    Review:
    https://www.firstpost.com/india/the-unending-game-ex-spymaster-vikram-soods-book-is-a-treatise-on-espionage-marked-by-understated-brilliance-4891141.html

    (*) “The Unending Game: A Former R&AW Chief’s Insights Into Espionage,” by Vikram Sood , Penguin Viking Publication , 304 Pages

    (**) Le Cercle: https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Document:The_Pinay_Circle

    (**) Gladio: https://wikispooks.com/wiki/BBC/Terrorism_reporting

    (**) Safari: https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Safari_Club
    etc.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ bj August 4, 2018 at 23:37
      Odd to see you apparently buying into the MSM and Hegemon’s narrative, of economic warfare, instigated armed insurrections, snipers, coup plots and the old ‘Regime Change’ scenario.

    • Dungroanin

      Short video looks like they look into sky. Then the parading sodiers break ranks to run towards the leaders – to protect?

      Shirley the agency can’t be going rogue again? DJT will be scrambling to stop this turning into his Bay of Pigs moment.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ bj August 4, 2018 at 23:37
      ‘Possible explosion reported during Nicolas Maduro’s speech in Caracas, Venezuela’:
      https://www.rt.com/news/435133-maduro-venezuela-explosion-address/?
      ‘..A live broadcast of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro’s speech at an army commemoration event was cut off abruptly due to a reported explosion. Servicemen lined up on the square could be seen fleeing in disarray.
      Seconds before the address was cut off, Maduro and the officials standing beside him can be seen looking up in the air. There have been unconfirmed reports on social media that a drone was spotted in the skies and at least two blasts were heard by the witnesses. Maduro has reportedly been evacuated from the scene.
      A Caracas source cited by Sputnik reported that the incident was an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Maduro….’

    • Sharp Ears

      Buy the farm – To die, espescially in combat; most likely from the idea that a dead soldier’s death benifit would serve to pay off his family’s morgtage. Often shortened to “bought it.”

      Is that the best you can do? Is that your wish that Julian dies? You’re a nice boy.

  • Paul Barbara

    Another ‘client state’ cosies up to the ‘ME Exceptionals’ by moving their Embassy to Jerusalem, I wonder what they were promised in return?: ‘WJC, LAJC delegation visit Guatemala City: “Guatemala is among the strongest and most devoted friends of Je^s and I^^ael in the world”:
    WJC:
    ‘…“Guatemala is undoubtedly among the strongest and most devoted friends of the Je^ish people and the State of I^^ael in the world, particularly in Latin America,” said Singer….’
    When the Human Rights situation got so bad in Guatemala that the US cut off arms sales, the ‘ME Exceptionals’ stepped in and built a machine gun factory in the country.

  • N_

    Tip… Want to know what’s planned for a hard-on Brexit? Take a look at the LEGATUM INSTITUTE.

    Funny how charities aren’t supposed to be “political” but some of them seem to get away with promoting right-wing c***ish ideas until the cows come home.

  • certa certi

    re Curtis and blowback.

    The Moro wars in Mindanao are a good example of blowback. Marcos recruited Muslims in secret to stage pseudo terrorism attacks in Sabah, provoke brutal retaliation by KL and and give him a pretext to send troops to protect Filipinos. When the recruits found out what they were meant to do they rebelled and Marcos had them slaughtered to cover up, in what came to be known as the Jabidah massacre. When details of the massacre leaked it became the trigger for the MNLF separatist war. Malaysia, a Five Powers ally, retaliated and trained the first Islamic insurgents in Sabah, then sent them back to the Philippines. Trained by Malaysian special forces and armed with weapons sent by the new Libyan leader Gaddafi.

    Duterte has signed the new Bangsamoro autonomy law. It’s an historic chance to end those wars and the most important development in SE Asia right now and not getting the media attention it deserves. Just remember how the Moro wars started.

    http://www.mindanews.com/

  • Sharp Ears

    Like a dog with a bone, Sky News will not drop their attack on Jeremy Corbyn.

    Linking their piece to Watson’s attack on Corbyn, they had a Richard Ferrer online from Finchley. He is the editor of J.wish News which is one of the three J.wish newspapers who made the recent concerted attack on Corbyn. The usual stuff ensued. Planted questions receiving the correct replies.

    Sky omitted to mention that Watson is a member of Trades Union Friends of Israel. Labour Friends of Israel funded his trip to Israel in 2016. He also received £175k from the unions and others for his deputy leadership bid. Really!
    His donors:
    Sir Trevor Chinn.
    Sir David Garrard
    Note the knighthoods.
    Garrard – In 2013, Garrard hosted a visit to Israel by eleven Labour MPs, including shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy, shadow defence minister Gemma Doyle, Labour Friends of Israel chair Anne McGuire and vice-chair Louise Ellman. He also sponsored Labour Friends of Israel meetings, including a speech by Labour leader Ed Miliband. Wikipedia.

    https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/11309/tom_watson/west_bromwich_east

    Then they had Lord Adonis on saying much the same as Ferrer. Poor old Jeremy cannot win.

    • charming

      Fake outrage. Listening to the World Service this morning – two guests and interviewer critical of Corbyn. This media onslaught is going to end really badly for the Labour Party and consequently Parliament without an opposition. Where are the grown ups?

      • Ishmael

        Executed by the CIA? Defenders of the oligarchy.

        Or at least not allowed in the conversation.

        But it hasn’t done Labour that bad in reality.

    • Dungroanin

      The media barrage before the NuLabInc walking dead climbout of the Labour bodypolitic trenches and turn their coats, to fight the membership from the outside, having failed to infect it from the inside.

      Real Labour has survived the 40 year infection and is ejecting it anyway. Leaving the party in great and vital health.

      Hope the ‘rebels’ would just get on with their delusional rush into the jaws of ignomy and join the ranks of these other long forgotten wraiths, the SDP1… No one believes a single word they say.

      This time they will not be trusted or forgiven. The Guardian exists barely via some strange funding. The BBC news and Opinion programmes are being ignored by thousands more daily.. everyone ahould withold their ‘licence’ poll taxes and kick it where it hurts!

      Bring it.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ Sharp Ears August 5, 2018 at 07:47
      Yeh, Watson. I gave him some irrefutable info about Syria at one of his hustings in Greenwich. I never received a response.

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