There is no conceivable interest of the ordinary people of the Western world being served by the crazed decision of their governments to firmly take the Sunni side in the Sunni/Shia tensions of the Islamic world, and to do so in a fashion which deliberately exacerbates points of armed conflict across the Middle East.
It is even more extraordinary that, in doing so, the West is deliberately forwarding the interests of two nations which have philosophies that are entirely antithetical to the supposed tenets of Western philosophy. Those states are Saudi Arabia, an unrepentant despotism, which promotes and finances a theocratic ideology directly responsible for the major terrorist attacks on the West, and Israel, which is now an openly apartheid state. The USA/Saudi/Israel alliance is underpinned by the identification of a common enemy in Iran and other Shia communities.
Of course the patent absurdities of the alliance point directly to the fact that the real motive is entirely different; this is all about the financial ties of the 1% and the permanent interest of the military industrial complex and their financiers in stoking the flames of war.
Which is an opportune moment to mention – as I have several times over the years – that if I had to recommend one single book to illuminate your view of the world it would be Imperialism by J A Hobson. His brilliant perception that empire had been a net disbenefit to the ordinary people of both the colonial power and the colonised, with the advantages reaped purely by the military, financial, armaments and political classes, and his groundbreaking methods of proving his thesis, is one of the great works of human thought. Lenin plagiarised Hobson extensively.
You can indeed find in Hobson a reflection of the anti-semitism that was regrettably common in his time. It is a problem in many of the great books of the past. Trollope is notably anti-semitic, but when John Major as Prime Minister repeatedly told of his love for Trollope, there was none of the manufactured outrage we saw over Corbyn’s recommendation of Hobson. In reading literature of the past there are inevitably notes that jar with the mores of these times, but they do not invalidate all the other qualities, once noted and appropriately analysed. I confess to being with John Major as a serious fan of Trollope. The Way We Live Now is also a great book, whose dark anti-semitic undertones are not necessary to its critique of rampant capitalism.
To return to Iran, I have no confidence whatsoever that apparent limpet mine attacks on shipping are Iranian in origin – in fact the narrative seems to me distinctly improbable. We have the intelligence community frantically signalling that John Bolton is making up his intelligence assessment of enhanced Iranian military activity. Jeremy Hunt has just put out a quite ludicrous advisory against dual nationals traveling to Iran. My wife Nadira was recently in Iran together with several dual nationals filming a comedy feature film. They met with nothing but friendship and cooperation from Iranian officialdom.
However, I remain hopeful that Trump can outplay John Bolton and prevent any immediate escalation. However bad his domestic agenda, one thing to be said in Trump’s favour is that, unlike every American President since Carter, he has not fed the military industrial complex by starting a needless war. I have no doubt whatsoever that Hillary would have started one by now. Trump, a monumentally flawed individual, is the only thing that today stands between the world and a Middle East conflagration that would make the last three decades seem like peace. That is hardly a comforting thought.
Nor is it comforting that Chelsea Manning is once again in jail, in terrible conditions, for refusing to testify against Julian Assange, himself in Belmarsh maximum security prison. These two heroes showed us more truth than the World’s professional journalists combined ever have or ever will. The American “justice” system is shown up yet again for the farce that it is. What value should be placed on testimony physically coerced from Chelsea Manning, who has already spent a lengthy prison sentence for her actions in leaking the truth about US military aggression? Either Chelsea provides damning testimony against Julian, or Chelsea gets tortured. That the world stands by and watches – and that the cowards of the mainstream media line up to applaud – I find rather hard to take.
Two other actions are worth noting here. The United States violated the Embassy of Venezuela, against the will of its government and in stark contravention of the Vienna Convention, to break in and seize materials and individuals, based on the farce of recognising the impotent US puppet Guaido as the legitimate government able to give permission. If any government wishes to recognise me as President of the United States, I happily give them my gracious permission to trash the US Embassy in their country.
There is no doubt that Guaido, with the entire world watching on, attempted to launch a military coup in Venezuela, and failed dismally. He has since addressed rallies in which his supporters have been numbered in scores. In the vast majority of countries around the world, specifically including the United States of America, Guaido would have been arrested and executed for his military coup attempt. Maduro has the power to do it. The fact Guaido and his violent antics are tolerated gives the lie to that false picture of Venezuela as authoritarian dictatorship which the mainstream media daily present to us.
Finally, in a country which the CIA has succeeded in reducing to puppet government status, Ecuador has, entirely illegally, compounded its illegal refoulement of a political refugee by handing over all of Julian Assange’s personal effects to the United States of America, on no legal basis whatsoever.
I had some difficulty in writing this post because the chain of these and other events over this past few weeks has been so thoroughly depressing, and can easily lead to a feeling of helplessness. On a more cheerful note, Part 2 of my interview with Alex Salmond is now out
RT have blocked the video from functioning in embedded form, you have to click again on the link that comes up. Or for those with Facebook
Here are three cheerful thoughts. Firstly you can declare your determination to work to destroy the United Kingdom, as I do here, and if you have a nice gentle voice and friendly personality nobody gets upset. Secondly, Part 1 had over 122,000 views on Facebook alone, plus those who watched on Russia Today TV and those who saw it on YouTube. When you compare that to the audiences of 7,000 for the flagship Nine news on the BBC’s new anti-Scottish propaganda channel “BBC Scotland”, that is pretty impressive. My third thought is this. I think the lesson of my life as revealed over the two interviews, is that no matter what the state throws at you, it is essential to continue to struggle for social justice. The struggle is in itself a good. Which is something I first learnt from Sartre’s Iron in the Soul trilogy when I was 15. I don’t seem to be getting far with intellectual development. It now being 3.25am, I shall bid you goodnight.
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Don’t trust anyone, or any nation, with religion. They are unable to take responsibility for their themselves.
If any politician says ” It’s God’s will ” then you must ask the logical question:
If it is God’s will WTF are you doing as politicians interfering in God’s will?
In the words of Doris Day: Whatever will be – will be.
It is up to God – is it not?
Aah – I get it – the US is God’s chosen nation to enact his ( sic ) will.
Many Tories on here are going to heaven in a chariot after the Armageddon.
What the Armageddon will do to house prices isn’t worth thinking about.
I would probably trust the Pope. I know that won’t please everyone here, but that is my view. You may find his twitter feed is compassionate. The modern Catholic church is strongly anti-war.
And can I ask that you don’t try to score points against me for saying this. You are entitled to your view as I am entitled to mine.
I have heard Muslims describe Jesus as a prophet. With that they seem to have great respect for Christianity.
And as you rightly say, the modern Catholic church is nothing but compassionate. Maybe, then, it’s a lack of imagination that stops them from using the billions they have in the banks to feed the poor, an issue we don’t doubt they are compassionate about.
It’s more difficult to claim a lack of imagination in regards to victims of abuse in Catholic Church managed orphanages, though, especially when the victims are asking for compensation. Did they really hire Saatchi & Saatchi to help with that?
Maybe I misunderstood the Muslims mentioned — maybe they said “profit”.
I like the Pope as well, but the strongest message if he/the Church are anti-war would be to excommunicate all warmongers. Full disclosure though I really don’t know how the church works. I don’t even know what kind of Christ-worshippers the Pope can do edicts upon. But if it’s in his power to kick out an evil mass-murdering psychopath like John Bolton or Marco Rubio or Tony Blair, why wouldn’t he?
Horlarryizon etc
I do so agree with you on the power of excommunication (I also believe in the power of exorcism, by the way). Of course, the problem with your excellent idea is, firstly, that His Holiness can could only excommunicate warmongers of the Roman Catholic faith and, secondly, that you would need to define a warmonger. Is it someone in power who actually starts a war? Is it someone who advocates a war which does not take place in the end? If war is declared after a vote in Parliament, should all the Catholics of that Parliament be excommunicated or only those who voted for the war….? So many questions arising out of your splendid idea!
I’ll trust the Pope when he finds a scriptural argument for birth control.
@ John2o2o May 19, 2019 at 00:21
An antidote to your optimistic trust would be to read ‘Operation Gladio’ by Paul Williams, who exposes really dark issues under JP II.
Also, it is difficult to understand your attitude as you must be aware of the child abuse scandals in the Church under various Pontiffs.
And also, the Vatican has shown a great partiality for Fascists, Nazis and other Extreme Right War Criminals, up to and including Tony Bliar.
Some people have never forgiven His Holiness Pope John Paul II for the rôle he played in the downfall of the Evil Empire and Communism in Europe. Strangely enough, most of those people usually claim to be on the side of freedom, justice, democracy and anti-repression.
Which of course includes the theocracy of the United Kingdom which entitles its unelected Clerics to sit in the upper house of parliament. Those who criticise Iran for being a theocracy need to take the beam out of their own eyes first.
I grew up in New Zealand which in the 19thC considered whether it should have an Established religion like the Mother country. But since it was largely composed, Anglicans aside, of objecting religious people this was howled down. The Scottish settlement of Otago was in fact for eg settled by the Free Church, not the Established Kirk. Not that you can tell from the modern Presbyterian church of NZ, unless you look REALLY closely.
I think there are about 25 bishops entitled to a seat in the House of Lords. Hardly an overwhelming number, surely? And hardly determining in political terms given the (pretty small) powers of the House of Lords. Certainly NOT to be compared – even oh so allusively – to the position/powers “enjoyed” by the mullahs in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Here are three cheerful thoughts. Firstly you can declare your determination to work to destroy the United Kingdom, as I do here, ”
A cheerful thought indeed as many in Scotland are determined to smash this ill gotten unfit for purpose union, once and for all.
In 2018 YouGov asked people across Britain whether they supported Britain having a monarchy. I’m not sure of the exact question they asked, but that’s how they describe it in their blurb.
Results were:
whole of Britain: 69% yes, 21% no;
Scotland: 53% yes, 36% no.
There’s probably more info about the poll’s questions and results online. The details are important because a proportion of those who voted for Scottish independence presumably supported the SNP government’s proposal in its “Scotland’s Future” document that there should be a union of the crowns, which is to say that the monarch of rUK would also be monarch of Scotland; and others among Yes voters opposed this idea, or didn’t know about it, or didn’t care. How the Yes demographic “voted” in the YouGov poll in answer to whatever the exact question was about the “British” monarchy, I don’t know.
If the SNP started criticising the monarchy and the royal family – not just occasionally addressing “expert” issues concerning the Crown Estate – that would be a welcome step. I mean “UK” does include “K”. I can’t take seriously leftwingers who are neutral on the monarchy or who keep their traps shut about it perhaps because they want to get the Women’s Institute or the Black Watch battalion on their side.
“A cheerful thought indeed as many in Scotland are determined to smash this ill gotten unfit for purpose union, once and for all.”
(Perhaps you meant “ill-begotten”.) Many of our compatriots (republicans, monarchists or cheerful don’t-knows) would be interested to know a little more about the methods you propose to smash or destroy the UK. These two words themselves suggest a violent rather than a democratic process, and may tend to alienate the more timid (or cowardly) amongst us.
Paul, just for the record, thanks for your contributions. Nearly any post should be welcome.
Agreed. Persistence/determination should not be regarded as unacceptable on forums such as this as long as they are applied with respect. Everyone is entitled to put forward their own interpretation of events and to be respected for it in return, whether or not there is agreement on every point.
@Paul has reacted to, largely, contrary opinions with dignity and respect and not resorted to ‘ad hominem’ barbs, as can also be said for most of those engaging with him. This is healthy debate, which is notable for its absence on mainstream media forums, and should not be discouraged. Forums such as this are currently well above the rock bottom tolerance level seen on msm forums and, unless a poster is aggressive or offensive or fails in other ways to comply with forum rules or requests from moderators, so it should remain.
Why call yourself ‘Borncynical’ then, as you are evidently not?
Laguerre
Sometimes I think I go overboard in my cynicism, so I have to occasionally redress the balance! It leads to a healthier (and happier!) outlook on life. 🙂 I may claim to be cynical over our political leaders but that doesn’t mean that I’m blind to the need for fairness.
Quite simply, we should consider ourselves above those on other forums who try to silence everyone who dares voice a dissenting view. As probably most of us on here, I have been a victim of such censorship on other forums and like to think, possibly misguidedly, that I can judge whether someone is genuine or not. But better to give the benefit of the doubt if no harm is being done. As has been said on many occasions, posters have the choice of whether to read the comments or respond.
I should add that there are several regular posters on here who, IMO, continually post nonsense and reactionary remarks, but they are accepted without suggestions that they should be banned. I have no problem with that. But to other posters and newcomers it can give the impression of being a ‘closed shop’ of a select few who feel entitled to pick and choose who should be allowed to join their ‘club’, especially when there are demands for someone to be ostracised with little reason other than being dogmatic in their opinion and not eager to roll over in submission or subservience. That can’t be right.
J.
” I should add that there are several regular posters on here who, IMO, continually post….. reactionary remarks, but they are accepted without suggestions that they should be banned”
On a point of information : that is inaccurate. There have been calls for me to be banned. They came mostly from Sharp Ears, but there were others as well. The Mods can confirm this, I’m sure.
Charles B (@12.15)
What on earth made you think I might have had you in mind? 🙂
But I do like the element of pride with which you put me right!
I have no idea whether you had me in mind or not but just felt I had to react against the hypocritical smugness and self-delusion with which you wrote that dissenting voices on here are “accepted” – and accepted graciously. To claim that it to fly in the face of evidence (reactions to Martinned, anyone? reactions to Loony, anyone?….) and a mere apologia from one of the elect of the echo chamber.
This blog may be more tolerant of dissent than some, but that’s not saying very much when you look at the Stalinist nature of some of the competition.
Thank you both @shugsrug and @Borncynical for your comments.
You’re welcome. 🙂
“When you compare that to the audiences of 7,000 for the flagship Nine news on the BBC’s new anti-Scottish propaganda channel “BBC Scotland”, that is pretty impressive”
Yes that’s very impressive I don’t see the BBC’s propaganda channel in Scotland lasting much longer. Of course the BBC’s other propaganda show QT, from Elgin ( one of the few places in Scotland that was not pro-EU coincidence?) this week had its audience unsurprisingly stuffed full with ex-Scottish Tory councillors such as Mary Scanlon, Frank Brown, Claire Feaver and Jane Lax.
That Jane Lax came across as a very bitter, twisted, angry lady!
BBC’s QT last week from the Royal Burgh of Elgin had more plants than a garden centre.
Not fit for the purpose and should be binned, just like that Kyle freak show!
.
Just the other day my twitter feed included a picture of a dead Palestinian toddler, her father next to her crying. The toddler’s head, or what was left of it, was completely hollowed out; something literally blew that kid’s brains out. That something was us.
Western support for Israel is misunderstood by most people. We are brought up to see war and violence as a means to an end, but, when it comes to Palestinians, and Middle Easterners generally, brutal aggression is much better understood as an end in itself. I’m aware that this seems like a strange thing to say.
The last thing the US or Israel wants is that a sustained period of peace breaks out in the Middle East. Peace is the hated enemy. If there’s peace, it’s hard to justify all the military assets being there, or even being produced and bought (by US taxpayers) in the first place, and, before you know it, Middle Eastern people will start to talk and ask questions like “where does all our oil money go?”
This is where the hollow-headed toddlers come in useful. Unending war, misery, and brutal aggression, provide a useful distraction from bread and butter issues. And, of course, you will understand that you can’t discuss bread and butter issues in the Middle East without talking about oil. Oil as at the root of almost everything we do there.
And if there’s war and aggression, with the potential of a regional conflict, well, that’s as good as an invitation for us. We aren’t simply there for oil, no, we are there to help keep the peace, promote regional stability, and of course to make sure the oil and money continues to flow in and out of the right hands.
In future, every time an innocent Palestinian or Middle Eastern child dies in a war that we caused (or could so easily stop), I want you to think of their last breath and utterance and I want you to replace their screams and shouts for “mummy” with the noise that a cash register makes. Ka-ching!
If the misery we sow is a means and not an end, it’s only because it inspires so much vengeful hatred and resentment. And that just means more ka-chings.
brilliant post Hatuey.
Seconded.
Heart-breaking and I can still hear the cries and screams from children and families in Iraq.
Word.
Thx
“We are brought up to see war and violence as a means to an end”
Speak for yourself!
The freak show is over for another year. The UK’s contribution (ie the TV licence fee payers) is –
‘So we’re looking at a potential BBC spend of between £4m and £7.5m on top of the payments made to the EBU.”
In 2009 the BBC made Eurovision entry payments to the tune of £279,805, followed by £283,190 in 2010 and another £310,000 in 2012.
The staggering entry fee gives the BBC the right to broadcast the programme but it also lets the UK skip straight ahead into the finals, which Britain has not won since 1997.’ D Express May 2018
Good to see that not everybody rolled over to Israel. Iceland too displayed a protest..
‘Desecration, carnival of apartheid’: Netherlands wins Eurovision in Israel, unfazed by protests
https://www.rt.com/news/459705-eurovision-israel-netherlands-protests/
We should have sent Theresa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpLfvBcxjyo
[ “Arlene” – parody of “Jolene” by Dolly Parton ]
She can jig too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpg5bVEQSF0
[ parody of “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars ]
Many Kudos points to Iceland for holding up Palestinian flags when marks were awarded for their song last night. Their gesture went down like a lead balloon in the Tel Aviv venue, apparently. I’ve been boycotting all mention of this sleazy genocide-promoting farce, but my partner thought I’d like to know. She was right.
The Eurovision Song Contest promotes genocide? That’ll be a new one for most people, I suspect. Perhaps your partner should tell you to lighten up?
Much better to look into the eyes of any American who voted Democrat or Republican and say: ‘Your vote murdered that child….’
American voters are responsible for their Government.
Do long as American voters bear no responsibility nor accountability, the killing will continue.
Excellent post Hatuey, my sentiments exactly.
There is no profit in peace for the MIC.
Thanks. Israel in particular really fears a peace. They basically declared war on peace. A sustained period of peace would probably lead to some sort of international recognition of Palestinian lands and that would get in the way of them stealing those lands.
You can imagine how they’d love to take over Gaza (on the Mediterranean) and turn it into a string of luxury holiday resorts and billionaire mansions.
It’s shocking to compare maps from the 1970s with maps from today and see how much they have simply stolen. The maps don’t show how many have died as a consequence, not just as a result of brutal violence but also as a result of the public health issues caused by malnourishment etc.
We might dismiss all of this as an atrocious waste of human life but strictly speaking that might not be entirely true — the starved brutalised corpses have a market value and it looks like Israel harvests body parts from them; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Aftonbladet_Israel_controversy
Of course, anyone who objects to any of this is an anti Semite. If the BBC was willing to look into the parent’s eyes of that hollow-headed toddler and tell him he was an anti Semite, I swear I’d buy a tv licence.
Some good news. Cristiano Ronaldo has made a large contribution for Palestinian children.
Yes, it is good news. Well done. Maybe David Beckham will follow suit.
Yes, it’s almost like the US government, or at least it’s agencies if not the President, are trying to destabilise any country who’s economy, particularly oil based ones, from growing and flourishing.
Like the debts they won’t allow to be restricted in South America and elsewhere, toxic lending, causing dissent, sanctions, funding and grooming oppositions who are willing to overthrow democratically elected governments. Somehow there is a section of the public that is aware that these things happened in the past but believes that it ‘couldn’t happen these days’ Yet it has NEVER stopped.
I like to say, ‘imagine the Mafia is running the world, then stop imagining’ Of course they AREN’T the Mafia, they make the Mafia look like the rank amateurs that they really are.
USA, UK, Australia etc ie The Five Eyes are, in particular acting as criminal organisations, many European countries are little better. I’m not defending Russia or China either but they ARE portrayed realistically in the press. Although, whilst North Korea treats it’s own people cruelly, it is made out to be a danger to the US and other countries, but NK has never been to war in it’s history (since the end of the Korean War) this despite the fact that a state of war actually exists still.
Governments of the supposedly ‘free West’ are criminal enterprises. We go to war not to protect, not to right wrongs but to destroy enemy economies and boost our own.
For a Mafia ‘made man’ to attain his status he has to have murdered someone. How many British leaders have ordered troops into war? How many Home Secretarys have ordered the killings of individuals outside of wars? These positions are held by ‘Made Men’ no better than their openly criminal counterparts…
Biggest problem is how moneymakers dissociate murdering from investments.
It is rife and endemic in all financial centres.
A definition of fit and proper to carry out investments should centre on ethical probity and putting human life before dividends.
Good luck wirpth seeing that enforced in the near future.
The Bush and Clinton dynasties learned early that organised crime today brings in chump change and it’s organised politics where the real money is. Gangster politics by lawmakers, unlike gangster crime by mobsters, means their crimes aren’t just legal but all for the public good. Their bootleg liquor is oil, the boys they send round are armies and their drive-by shootings are Warthog strafings with DU ammunition. Their Main Street drug racket is quality pharmaceuticals and their back street drugs still heroin, crack, meth and reefer. They print money just as before, but they got so damned greedy even rolling it out like wallpaper couldn’t make them enough, while war abroad is just armed robbery international in scale.
Look no further than PNAC, Project for a New American Century, to understand what has unfolded in the Middle East.
http://pnac.info/2003/4-years-before-911-plan-was-set/
https://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/project_for_the_new_american_century/
Craig Murray wrote: “Nor is it comforting that Chelsea Manning is once again in jail, in terrible conditions, for refusing to testify against Julian Assange, himself in Belmarsh maximum security prison.”
And now also in France:
“Journalists in France are facing potential jail sentences in an unprecedented case over their handling of secret documents detailing the country’s involvement in the Yemen conflict.”
Reporters Face Jail in France Over Secret Military Document
https://theintercept.com/2019/05/17/france-takes-unprecedented-action-against-reporters-who-published-secret-government-document/
If there was any doubt that the Extinction Rebellion held the weekend after Assange was captured for torture was a ‘coincidence’ (there was none in my mind) – then where have been the rallies in support of Assange since his arrest? Re the leak of Yemen secrets in France, according to RT there have been (quote) At least 36 French media outlets signed a statement condemning the persecution of the journalists last month (end quote). I have my suspicions about this French incident, especially as it is directly tied to The Intercept, but regardless – where have been the protests and petitions in the UK, or anywhere else for that matter. I truly despair. And my heart aches for Julian (and Chelsea). Thank you, Craig, for the moral support and friendship you have shown Julian. I have tried to send you a donation, but my Tor browser immediately blocks the phishing from Pay Pal. I tried IE, but I am forced to sign up for a Pay Pal account. Please tell me how I can mail you a cheque, from Canada. Assange is the only person I have ever unconditionally believed. He is a saint and a hero – an unbelievably brave hero. Thank you for supporting him and being his friend.
I fear the US is going to to attack both Iran and China. China and Russia should have piled into Iran to defend it already. The Iranians however are a proud people and will defend themselves despite US might. Both China and Russia are still not ready to match the US. I fear the Pentagon planners have decided they cant wait for the two to catch up. Not good, war war and more war. Iran knows now that it cant rely on anyone to keep buying its oil under US threats.
I’m not convinced of that.
The US is already overstretched and you need to remember that unlike Iraq Iran has not been dis-armed.
Note carefully that the US rarely bomb from the air any country that has Surface to Air Missiles and certainly nowhere wher they have nuclear missiles.
In Syria they have many but there are agreements ( officially and unofficially ) as to where the West can bomb.
The bombing of Syrian military airports was agreed by both the US and Russia once the military was out of the way.
A diplomatic bombing – if you like to save face.
I do suspect that the Russians are there in small numbers and last time Israel got involved on the ground they were chased off by Hezbollah.
They are very good at shooting unarmed people but not very good when they are being shot back at.
Like the Yanks.
Ken Ken. I hope you are right.I was cheered by the latest campaign advert by Tulsi Gabbard. Israel has forgotten
that they having been pushing US to bomb the very Persians that in History set them free and even today has a thriving Iranian jewish community. It was Kim Philby’s father St John, who acted as middleman in the US acquisition of the Saudi oil concession, called by the US State Department ” the greatest commercial prize in the history of the planet “. It is the job of the the likes of Andrew Marr (£400,000 PA) to sell to the these wars of “Intervention”, which are just modern day extensions of plunder of Pirates and Privateers of yesterday.
Netanyahu uses the mythical history of the Book of Esther, in which the Jews are saved from genocide by Haman, the Persian king’s adviser, and Haman and a lot of other Persians are killed, to justify anti-Persian policies. He ignores the extremely favorable treatment of King Cyrus elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Tulsi Gabbard is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
She must be a friend of Henry (Kissinger) and Madeleine (Albright).
Sharp Ears I assure you Tulsi Gabbard is no friend of war criminals kissenger et al
I’ve seen a lot of Tulsi Gabbard and she will not get through the debates this time but next time certainly.
The main thing for the non progressive Democrats is to remove Bernie Sanders as they did last time.
I agree about Marr but he’s not alone.
He’s part of the other 1% who work for the real 1% to reinforce the idea that being rich is fine and that the
more rich rich people become the richer the world becomes.
It suits the other 1% as they too have become richer. Therefore why bite the hand that feeds you?
sk Piers Morgan – he’s done alright after falling foul of the ‘ Establishment ‘
Farage is an archetype but then again he ( like Johnson ) never had any principles – not even
right wing ones.
The problem with that argument is that we’ve had forty years of this ‘ positive ‘ effect and the gap between rich and poor has never been wider in Capitalist history.
Bernie Sanders said this ( paraphrasing but it’s shocking )
In the USA 1/10th of the 1% have almost as much wealth than the bottom 90% of Americans.
I take it he means the poor and very poor.
Either way – it’s awful.
I fear Iran finds itself in the same blockaded position as Japan was prior to Pearl Harbour. Even if Trump has no intention of attacking, others will, as they have done in the past conduct false flag outrages blamed on Iran. Churchill and Roosevelt sacrificed US lives at Pearl Harbour, knowing beforehand of the attack. This enabled Roosevelt to break the Neutrality Act and Churchill to get US into the war. These are not conspiracy theories. Iran must be regretting putting its faith and security capitulating to our demands and blockades. Who can blame any country now wanting nuclear weapons ! This war is going to set fire to the whole region and bring about the end of the $ as the international
trading currency. Shame on India and Europe, even Russia and China for not protecting the Persians.
Your theory involves a conspiracy and is therefore a conspiracy theory.
@JC , have you not heard that what you are calling a conspiracy theory, is nowadays much more accurately referred to as conspiracy research
this is evident when the research is being studied in the odd Sunday Paper, by real journalists:-
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7045469/PETER-HITCHENS-green-seats-prove-careering-catastrophe.html
(he questions the OPCW results, and worries about democracy)
nice article, Peter
Wikikettle
I am not sure when or how Japan was “blockaded” prior to Pearl Harbour, because they were a powerful, nationalistic, imperial country which was heavily involved in invading China in the 2nd Sino-Japanese war.
The Japanese navy was huge, and the whole Pearl Harbour attack centred around the destruction of the US aircraft carriers, which were not in Pearl at the time.
There was also a massive miscalculation by Japan regarding the huge war machine which they jolted into life.
The treatment of Iran since 1953 by the US and UK has been nothing short of shocking, but many people are unaware of it due to the scandalous misinformation and downright lies being spread about Iran by the MSM.
“The Roosevelt administration, while curtly dismissing Japanese diplomatic overtures to harmonize relations, accordingly imposed a series of increasingly stringent economic sanctions on Japan. In 1939, the United States terminated the 1911 commercial treaty with Japan. “On July 2, 1940, Roosevelt signed the Export Control Act, authorizing the President to license or prohibit the export of essential defense materials.” Under this authority, “[o]n July 31, exports of aviation motor fuels and lubricants and No. 1 heavy melting iron and steel scrap were restricted.” Next, in a move aimed at Japan, Roosevelt slapped an embargo, effective October 16, “on all exports of scrap iron and steel to destinations other than Britain and the nations of the Western Hemisphere.” Finally, on July 26, 1941, Roosevelt “froze Japanese assets in the United States, thus bringing commercial relations between the nations to an effective end. One week later Roosevelt embargoed the export of such grades of oil as still were in commercial flow to Japan.”8 The British and the Dutch followed suit, embargoing exports to Japan from their colonies in Southeast Asia.
Roosevelt and his subordinates knew they were putting Japan in an untenable position and that the Japanese government might well try to escape the stranglehold by going to war. Having broken the Japanese diplomatic code, the American leaders knew, among many other things, what Foreign Minister Teijiro Toyoda had communicated to Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura on July 31: “Commercial and economic relations between Japan and third countries, led by England and the United States, are gradually becoming so horribly strained that we cannot endure it much longer. Consequently, our Empire, to save its very life, must take measures to secure the raw materials of the South Seas.”9”
https://mises.org/library/how-us-economic-warfare-provoked-japans-attack-pearl-harbor
Ironically, just a few years later, under the guise of the Cold War, the US made the restoration of the Japanese economic Empire a keystone of its foreign policy in the region. They called it a “Great Crescent”.
The rest — Korean War, Vietnam War, Coups in Indonesia, Phillipines, etc. — is history.
Hatuey. Thanks for that. There was a documentary about the secrecy imposed on by the White House preventing Intelligence reports being sent to the commanders of the Pacific Fleet and Pearl Harbour. I cant recall the name of the documentary but it had lots of interviews with eye witnesses involved at the time including Japanese diplomats and US Intelligence operatives.
The documentary about Pearl Harbour was a BBC production in 1989 called ‘ Sacrifice at Pearl Harbour’. On youtube.
Yes, wiki, there’s been a lot of conjecture on Pearl Harbor and suggestions that they knew it was coming. There are more stronger indications that Britain knew in advance.
I’m not sure how much any of it matters except as another example of how politicians play games that cost ordinary people their lives. It’s not like we are short of such examples.
Standard history books don’t even attempt to tell the truth of these things.
Hatuey. Indeed. In his autobiography, ‘Spy Counter Spy’ Dusko Popov, writes of his unsuccessful attempts in convincing
Hoover that the Japanese were planning an attack on Pearl Harbour.
@ Wikikettle
Of course you’ll be aware that the late, unlamented Joseph Stalin refused to believe reports from Communist spy Richard Sorge (based in Japan) that Nazi Germany was about to invade to USSR in 1941……
Mr. Putin has said Russia is no a Fire Service, we can’t save every country.
thanks for this, Michael.
I was just thinking about Wikikettle’s “Shame on India and Europe, even Russia and China for not protecting the Persians”.
There alredy exists a country, you know, ‘nation is so exceptional and so incredibly blessed’ (c) Pompeo
Oh, wait…
Tatyana,
Russia saving Syria, I expect that has cost Russia a lot of money.
How has this gone done with most Russian people?
Well, mostly we do not support spending money on weapons and wars, it is expencive and we know better use of this money inside the country.
But also we know we are standing against the USA in Syria, and this is the point, because few of us support the US politics in the Middle East. We have a legitimate reason, that is, the invitation of the Syrian government.
So our thoughts are something like: they asked us to help, we can help, we are willing to help, so we are helping. Well, it is a costly actiont, but in fact it more or less pays back, because we get contracts for the defence weapons from other countries.
Me myself thought that Syria is somewhere in a very remote distance, untill I saw in the news that ISIS have destroyed the Triumphal Arch in Palmira.
We start our History lessons in the 5th grade, with the ancient history that is mostly percieved as a fairy tale by us, teenagers. The photo of the Arch was on the cover of our History textbook, that was uniform for all schools of the Soviet Union.
https://static.riafan.ru/uploads/2017/06/30/orig-1498800468_palmira_siriya_triumfalnaya-arka_1_8c7bfefcf14722c41d5fb6794d360f52.jpg
Russia has always been in Syria. Its main warm water port is there. The ‘Great Game’ was always about preventing the Bear from having a warm water port. Hence our support for Turkey and the division of India and the creation of Pakistan and western military support of it. India, though non aligned was armed by Russia.
@ Wikikettle
So India was divided/Pakistan created in order to prevent the Soviet Union from gaining a warm water port?
I think that’ll be a new one for most people, don’t you?
A nice gentle voice and a friendly personality can still upset people if you are setting out to destroy their strongly held institutional frameworks, I think, Mr Murray.
The real question is whether you have the ability to achieve your desired change whilst limiting yourself to a nice gentle voice and a friendly personality. I am not sure Neville Chamberlain quite succeeded. Attlee did a bit better….and John Major probably still has the historical jury out.
Gandhi recognised after all that his methods would only succeed if the British State had the semblance of a conscience and the capacity to experience shame.
I have to say that my opinions on the capacity for shame within the British State currently are firmly tilted toward low to zero capacity.
Revolution therefore depends on trusting that if both major parties collapse that vote rigging will not be the order of the day. Having found strong circumstantial evidence of electoral rigging in certain seats in 2015, I do not suffer from the delusion that we in Britain are an electoral example to the world, even if rampant rigging is certainly not on the agenda just yet.
Rhys,
Money buys elections ( but popular will can also have surprising impact).
Revolution is ( like many other Western political concepts) based on Utopianism.
See Rhys – the folks like Bolton, Pompeo and Trump are fools.
However, it would require more than a fool to commence a war with Iran. So, while they are ignoramuses and fools – as we would say – thank goodness they are not totally insane. Read on:-
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51621.htm
I think putting it crudely Rhys you might just as well ask if you can achieve the change you desire better by dialogue or violence.
While I sit on the fence regarding Scottish independence I nevertheless feel a bit uncomfortable about a movement which wants to achieve an end that is not the desire of all people in Scotland.
My relatives in Scotland are divided on the issue.
Those that would see Scotland break from the rest of the UK without a popular mandate would not be taking all of their countrymen with them. I strongly suspect that they might come up against a good deal of opposition from their fellow Scots if they tried.
“I nevertheless feel a bit uncomfortable about a movement which wants to achieve an end that is not the desire of all people in Scotland.”
You say “all” but do you literally mean every single person?
Then you talk about those who would want to see Scotland break from the UK without a “popular mandate”. I have no idea who you are referring to here, could you explain?
Of course, the SNP has a popular mandate. It was so popular in fact that people voted for it twice, in Holyrood and Westminster elections. The mandate couldn’t really be more specific and was stipulated in their manifesto which they campaigned for in those elections.
As if that wasn’t popular enough, they even succeeded in winning the approval of the Scottish Parliament for that popular mandate.
So far, so simple, and boring. It gets rather more interesting, though, when you look at the role of the BBC and MSM generally.
If it wasn’t for The National, we could say as a matter of fact that every newspaper in Scotland was pro-Unionist and anti-Independence. I mean that quite literally. It’s an astounding thing, when you think about it.
One can only imagine how much more popular the SNP mandate would be if we had even 5 minutes of balanced coverage on Scottish independence.
But hey, you’re English right, with relatives up here… you know everything already.
Not literally every single person, no.
The problem with Brexit, for example is that the leave campaign won, but not convincingly enough for those that voted remain – and who feel strongly about that – to accept it. As you must know.
By contrast, a referendum in Crimea saw (I don’t know the exact figure) over 90% in favour of leaving Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation. So even those who voted to remain in Ukraine might be inclined to accept it as it was the clear will of the people of Crimea.
You may well be right that you don’t get a fair hearing in the MSM (I am no fan of the MSM), but with that said, the SNP has a strong representation in the UK parliament.
I went to a the wedding of a cousin in East Kilbride last year. He lives in Romania, but his brother who lives in Blantyre said that he wanted an independent Scotland as he felt it would be good for Scotland. His father, my uncle also desired an independent Scotland, but said that it was because of a verse in the UK national anthem. I respect my cousin’s view.
My mother, who is Scottish, but who lives in England does not get to vote. I consider that an injustice.
I generally identify as English, though I am perhaps technically half Scottish and half English as is the owner of this blog.
“the SNP has a strong representation in the UK parliament…”
Simple as that. The most one-sided MSM in the western world, pumping out anti-snp and Pro-unionist propaganda 24/7, but that’s fine because the SNP are represented in the U.K. parliament… I think I see why politics in Crimea might appeal to you as a useful example.
John2020,
” While I sit on the fence regarding Scottish independence I nevertheless feel a bit uncomfortable about a movement which wants to achieve an end that is not the desire of all people in Scotland.”
When in which referendum have your ever found all the people on one side – name one. It is the majority that decides. Surely?
I’m not so sure that they are taking the Sunni side against the Shias. The Saudi regime supports and promotes a brand of extremist Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism.
This quotation is taken from wikipedia “wahhabism”:
“The majority of Sunni and Shia Muslims worldwide disagree with the interpretation of Wahhabism, and many Muslims denounce them as a faction or a “vile sect”. Islamic scholars, including those from the Al-Azhar University, regularly denounce Wahhabism with terms such as “Satanic faith”.”
Unfortunately Saudi Arabia was found to have a giant reserve of oil and so Islamic fundamentalism (which is for the most part wahabism) has been promoted and spread in a way that it would not otherwise been.
Oh what a tangled web we weave…
Wahhabism is gaining some traction as a consequence of Saudi funding of a network of Wahhabist mosques around the world – most notably Pakistan and parts of Europe.
How strange that scholars from the Al-Azhar University can denounce Wahhabism as a “Satanic faith” but anyone that tries the same thing in the UK is likely to face arrest and prosecution for “Hate Speech” or “Islamophobia” Maybe Wahhabism has in fact captured large parts of the British political, education and judicial system.
Nearly as bad as WahWahism.
Patrick Cockburn’s article in the Independant yesterday “Four times the US has made the same mistake in the middle east. Now Trump is making it yet again over Iran “. Cockburn along with Robert Fisk really deserve to be called journalists.
Wiki
It is a serious mistake to think that this deliberate and repeated action is a “ mistake”. It confers good intentions on the aggressors but poor execution. However if you look at it as a deliberate policy to destroy and wreck, then it is a huge success. And by the way Cockburn is wrong in counting four. Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Syria and Yemen are 6.
Agreed but I think he is referring to exploitation of the Sunni Shia faiths in that article which I should have mentioned.
I also think these are not six different wars but six campaigns of the war started in 2003, just as the wars in Africa and the Pacific weren’t separate wars but all part of WWII. This war across the oil regions will in the end prove too much for America and will finish it. To be confident of that one only has to look at the dreadful state of the country. The majority of its people are poor and getting poorer and the country is falling apart, so even if it won every campaign instead of losing them it won’t survive the end of America itself. In the end and for the safety of the world the US should be Balkanised. They’ll be too busy fighting each other to bother the rest of us.
Do not forget Korea, then Vietnam.
Agent Orange.
Cockburn also appears regularly in this magazine, Counterpunch, https://www.counterpunch.org/author/patrick-cockburn/
His last entries were – Europe is Powerless in Growing Conflict Between the US and Iran
May 15, 2019
The Mysterious “Sabotage” of Saudi Oil Tankers: a Dangerous Moment in Trump’s Escalating Conflict With Iran
May 14, 2019
Patrick Cockburn should know better – but has instead chosen to act as a cheerleader for the brigade of useful idiots.
Trump is not escalating conflict with Iran – he is in fact doing all that he can to deescalate conflict. Those that are escalating conflict are the US deep state, some of whose members are having a bright light shone on them as a consequence of Trump.
Can Trump succeed? Who knows as he is assailed by enemies. It obviously does not help that those who should be most supportive of him are in fact among his most vehement critics.
It comes to something when large swathes of the population would actively prefer to be incinerated than to question their own virtue signaling narcissism.
“Trump is not escalating conflict with Iran – he is in fact doing all that he can to deescalate conflict.”
Tenuous.
https://twitter.com/Serec_Fourmyle/status/1130267732589588480
CM – “There is no conceivable interest of the ordinary people of the Western world being served by the crazed decision of their governments to firmly take the Sunni side in the Sunni/Shia tensions of the Islamic world”
That’s not always the case. In the 1st and 2nd Gulf wars the US and the UK attacked Saddam Husseins Iraq, where Hussein relied on the Sunni population to maintain his dictatorship. Admittedly, in the Iran Iraq war the US backed Hussein (but armed Iran as well). And when following the first Gulf war, the Shia population rose up to depose Hussein, the US again backed Hussein. In the 2nd gulf war, the US/UK effectively handed Iraq to the Shia, Iran’s allies.
CM – “Those states are Saudi Arabia, an unrepentant despotism, which promotes and finances a theocratic ideology directly responsible for the major terrorist attacks on the West,”
The US, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were also co-responsible for arming the mujahideen in Afghanistan in an attempt to bleed the Soviet Union. One of the worst mujahideen thugs Hekmatyar met Margaret Thatcher who probably called him a freedom fighter. For the Afghanis these mujahideen were terrorists who wrecked the country. I think Zbigniev Brzezinski (Carter’s National Security Advisor) deliberately chose the mujahideen because of their Islamic fundamentalism.
FranzB,
” The US, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were also co-responsible for arming the mujahideen in Afghanistan”
The CIA primarily – surely – it was ‘Charlie Wilson’s war’?
FranzB
You should read my book “Sikunder Burnes”. In 1834 (from memory, give or take a year) the British spy Colin Mackenzie had formed a “Committee of Mujahideen”, actually called that, to fight the Russians in Dagestan and Chechnya, and Palmerston was sending them arms supplies. The British explicity and calculatedly were exploiting Sunni and Shia divisions in Sind and Afghanistan at the same time, using precisely that terminology.
Of course in exploiting the Sunni Shia divide the West has not consistently backed the same side all the time, or even simultaneously in different places. There was a major policy shift by the Americans about 11 years ago alarmed at their strengthening of Iran’s regional role through Iraqi “democracy”. And of course (SA two places below) the situation on the ground is fractured. But broadly the West, in alliance with Israel, is indeed backing the anti-Shia and pro-Sunni Saudi agenda right across the region at the moment and that is the direct cause of the current potential for war.
But strengthening Iran’s regional sway after the Iraq war was more an unforeseen, albeit an easily foreseen consequence of that war. The war in Syria (Sunni majority / Alawite minority in control in the form of the Al-Assad family) was an attempt by the US+Gulf monarchies to redress the balance and put a Sunni ‘buffer’ between Iran. Maybe Israel’s reward was to be snatching Golan (oil exploration), which Trump has done by unilaterally, by declaring the war captured territory as Israel’s regardless of the fact Assad’s Syria objects. Jared Kushner seems to been instrumental in bringing Israel and KSA together on an ‘ enemy of my enemy’ basis, their mutual hatred of Iran allowing them to overcome their own longstanding historic hostilities. The KSA in recent memory, openly hostile to Israel, held TV telethons to raise money for the Palestinian cause.
As for attacking Iran now, the KSA state run press talks about ‘surgical strikes’, and I think that’s where things are heading. The US will try to setback Iran’s nuclear capability by years by targeting their nuclear infrastructure(think something akin to the 7 June 1981 Operation Opera, which destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor under construction). There’ll be no invasion, Iran is too big and too unified to invade /occupy and the US population wouldn’t tolerate the costs in blood and treasure, not after Iraq and Afghanistan. However there’s a real risk ‘surgical strikes’ will achieve precisely the opposite to what’s intended.Regardless of any ‘success ‘ of the strikes , Iran will surely unify then go all out to acquire that which the US, Israel and KSA seek to deny them. Another problem is how it’ll be the best argument ever made for the acquisition of nuclear weapons. What chance North Korea(reportedly currently racing to go hypersonic and MRV its own missile programme), agreeing it’s own version of the JCPOA when the US has not only reneged on the Iranian version then attacked the country ? And the electoral clock is counting down in the US, so Trump , Bolton and co may only leave a terrible legacy.
Excellent post Goose.
The majority of the Syrian Arab army under Assad is Sunni. The Syrians see them selves primarily as Syrian. Both Fisk and Cockburn have written on this.
But the country’s leadership isn’t.
And presumably, those who’ve stoked and fed the civil war in Syria saw leveraging that majority and bringing about new leadership as a means to further their own influence, much as Iran’s influence increased in Iraq post-Saddam’s tribe. They would have rebuilt Syria had the FSA won. And Syrian govt ties with Iran would have ended as would supply routes through the country to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A right wing, conservative, Japanese prime minister, yesterday, called Iran a stabilizing force in the region. I think the whole world is relieved that the FSA mostly made up of terrorists supported and financed by UK, France, Saudi Arabia, US, Israel, gulf states and Turkey did not win as they did in Libya.
We shall bide our time and wait to see what happens.
It is vitally important to remember that the Carter administration greatly ramped up the Cold War after the USSR invaded Afghanistan. However, the sheer cynicism of it all arises from the fact that the administration deliberately destabilised Afghanistan in the first place in order to bring about that invasion.
This appalling episode is hardly known in this country or the USA. Carter has done much good work since leaving office but we should not forget just truly gruesome his administration was.
https://fair.org/home/william-blum-us-policy-critic-derided-by-nyt-dies-at-85/
Tony. I think the secular military Government of Afghanistan invited the Russians in. It was a very old policy called the ‘Great Game’
to prevent Russia from getting access through Afghanistan, NE India to warm water. Then to divide India and arm the new muslim Pakistani state against Russia and independent India. There is a BBC film by Adam Curtis ‘Bitter Lake’. youtube
There seems to be no limit to the interesting historical ‘facts’ you are bringing to our attention. They are truly eye-opening and I look forward to fresh ‘information’ on why WW2 broke out. Have you considered writing a book on 20th century history?
Its ironic that now the US is being replaced by China in its Belt and Road through Pakistan – for a warm water port.
The Sunni Shia divide is a convenient label to describe rivalries In the Middle East. These are more complex as there are now three competing factions: the axis of resistance comprising Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon; the Saudi, UAE axis including Egypt, and the Turkish Qatari axis. The first axis although predominantly Shia, contains other elements including Sunnis and Alawites in Syria and even Christians in Syria and Lebanon, The other two are both nominally Sunni but of course with another constructed division between Wahhabis and Muslim Brothers.
Again all of these are artificial approximations to reflect the power struggles in the region that sadly continue to play out in areas of conflict In the region and which came to a disastrous collision in Syria including all three factions.
Rivalries In the Middle East are not very complex, if you see it like “Die Anstalt” (German comic show, 7 minutes video)
https://youtu.be/x1NO5DwrQz4
@Tatyana
That is a good link for a laugh in presenting what might be called the accepted alternative interpretation of events. In some ways problems of the Middle East today are also one outcome of the animosity between Russia and Poland that instilled in Zbig Brzenzinski a dislike of Russia and state socialism, leading to his promotion of militant Islamic groups to attack the soft underbelly of the Soviet Union. They also result from the sense of oppression felt by Khazars and others of the Hebraic religion, as well conveyed by Solzhenitsyn in 200 years together, that made Russian migrants the main driving force for the establishment of that well-known entity in the Middle East.
In other words a lack of mutual respect and consideration on all sides.
By your logic, in some ways problems of the Middle East today are also one outcome of the enrichment at the expense of colonies, that made European migrants the main driving force for the establishment of that well-known entity in the Northern America.
SA – Although I agree that the US, the KSA and Israel are in an alliance against Iran, we still get the peculiar situation where the US was acting to defeat an ally of the KSA in Iraq and Syria, i.e. Isis which follows the KSA’s wahabist ideology. Thanks to wikileaks we also know that the US including Hillary Clinton knew that the KSA was supporting Isis. See Patrick Cockburn’s article:-
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/hillary-clinton-wikileaks-email-isis-saudi-arabia-qatar-us-allies-funding-barack-obama-knew-all-a7362071.html
FranzB
Yes of course, but Daesh then became more autonomous and extreme allowing it to become the common scapegoat of its creators whilst AQ in Syria continues to get the support of both KSA and Turkey (as indeed did Daesh before it became disposable).
We know that the US quite often supports both sides in a conflict, that is part of the tactics and the various declarations, public and secret, point out to relying on Daesh to help destroy Assad but hoping on easily dealing with it after that.
Witness also how the US also supports the Kurds which are no friends of Turkey who is supposedly a NATO ally.
The web of deception is extremly complex.
Craig: Trollope is notably anti-semitic, but when John Major as Prime Minister repeatedly told of his love for Trollope, there was none of the manufactured outrage we saw over Corbyn’s recommendation of Hobson.
I have no idea why Craig is sympathetic toward Corbyn. Clearly, this is a vile individual, and I read plenty of reasons justifying this assessment, with the most impressive tidbits revealed as soon as he got elected as the leader of Labour.
Number one. In California they say that you are what you ride. Corbyn rides bicycle to work, and it is not even a particularly good bicycle. Why he would do that!? It was observed that such practices were highly recommended under Mao in China. Shabby dress could have the same inspiration, although the atrocious color of socks may be just his own (eh, they were of some shade of red).
Number two. Corbyn opposed Trident. While bicycle riding was disturbing, some decent people, however few, ride them. However, according to what I read at the time, no decent person would oppose Trident. I have no idea what Trident is, but from what I read the only opponents other than Corbyn are the worst riffraff in England, and, i am sorry to say, Scotland.
Number three. Corbyn opposed monarchy.
So basically, day after he got elected as a leader, I read plenty of articles how bad he is, and while I do not know what Trident is and why one should wish to have a monarch, preferably senile, in the context of the United Kingdom he was as bad as a non-mass-murderer can be.
Subsequently anything that he said or did was interpreted through this lens. We can give a bit leeway to people who love both the Trident and the monarchy, but Corbyn does not deserve such benefit of the doubt. There is no doubt in his case. This is the kind of person that when he visits a kindergarten, he plays with children using matryoshkas, a Russian toy, promoted during Communist time as peasant craft, thus a proper expression of the creativity of the working class.
So many ad hominems in your little anti-Corbyn diatribe.
It’s ironic.
Duh! That will teach me to wake up fully before committing to the keystrokes!
‘The Struggle is in the Meaning’. Quite.
Yes, tongue in cheek.
And quite well done, when people bite and you have to think, ‘is this meant as a serious critique?’.
Well that diatribe has opened my eyes to the foibles of Corbyn.
I thought of voting for Farage instead as Stacey Dooley described him as “Transparent ”
Transparent as in most people see through him.
His job is to take us out of the clutches of an evil Trading Bloc – Europe and deliver us into an even more evil
trading bloc – USA via a no deal Brexit.
I’ll stick with the evil one as it still has a Welfare State though.
Chlorinated chicken should be way down on the voters lists of worries.
The Brexit Party has no MPs so quite how he and his acolytes are going to deliver us to the US is anyone’s guess.
Nevermind though his exertions come with a good salary and backing from murky sources.
The whole thing could take years and he is looking forward to that at (K a month plus ex’s and a lovely flat paid for by who knows who?
That’s how transparent Farage is Stacey.
.
Piotr Berman : Let’s not forget the matter of the beard. Who also had a beard? Well, Karl Marx obviously, but think more of that closely controlled, rather suspiciously well kempt beard of Corbyn’s. Who else had something this obviously contrived? Well, there was Harold Shipman for one. Peter Sutcliff for another. I could go on, but you surely get the point… coincidence? I think not.
I assume what Piotr writes is irony, otherwise it does not make sense. I thought the UK was supposed to get irony, in a way that the US famously doesn’t. However the best ironic stories I have ever read were by an American: Donald Barthelme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme
You will immediately notice from Wiki that Barthelme has a beard. Here is his The Report: http://www.jessamyn.com/barth/report.html
pete
Someone used obvious irony on another forum that I frequent and you wouldn’t believe the vituperative responses they received. I tried it once as well…never again! If you’re ever tempted to try it you have to state clearly “Irony alert” at the outset, which rather detracts from the intended impact.
It led me to do some research on ‘irony’ and apparently its usage is regarded as virtually unique to the British. I would personally narrow it down even further and say “unique to the British mainland”. Have you ever tried irony on an Irish person? I write as someone with an Irish mother and I have learnt to my cost that you should never try irony with an Irish person. Or may be it’s just my mother!
J.
Wholeheartedly agree. It is not always obvious that a post is intended as ironic, my advice would be try to avoid it, sadly I do not always follow my own good sense.
“Have you ever tried irony on an Irish person?”
Leaving aside such counter-examples as George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde (satirical and ironic both of them, so probably not true Irishmen, and certainly not British) I seem to recall that Sharp Ears vouchsafed around New Year that her father was born in Limerick.
Iain (May 21, 2019 @ 10.53)
🙂
And Corbyn wears a cheap ‘donkey jacket’ to Remembrance Sunday parades. I read somewhere that it would “only” have cost him £80 – what a cheapskate! Everyone knows that to prove you have genuine feelings and respect for those who have sacrificed their lives in the name of the country you must be seen to spend more on a coat than other people might get to live on in a month.
(@Laguerre – back to my cynicism mode!! 🙂 )
If someone wants to know how I feel when I see the real irony on here 🙂
Friends in a bar having a talk.
– So, what’s your hobby?
– I’m spying on people.
– Weird. I never thought it would be fun. As to me, I go to the cinema with my friends on Sundays and watch football.
– I know.
For all we.know, you could be a vile individual, Piotr, a non plussed throaway proponent who just can’ t understand why someone would want to use a bicycle because it works.
You poor flaming soul.
@Piotr Berman
I don’t know what you hope to achieve by your ad hominem comments on Jeremy Corbyn but maybe that’s because you are noticeably lacking in the ability to expound any real arguments. Maybe you allow yourself to be controlled by hatred and bigotry.
It is so transparent that you have personal issues and if I sound patronising, well maybe that’s because you deserve to be looked down.
No offence.
What is wrong with you people?
Someone states that Corbyn is a vile person and cites as evidence the fact that he rides a bicycle – and you take this as a serious observation.
If this kind of comprehension is indicative of British education then surely it is time to burn down the schools, and shoot all the teachers. Onward to the glorious dawn of Year Zero.
It’s a feeble attempt at satire. Otherwise known as trolling. A phenomenon you are well acquainted with.
Trolling and satire are completely different phenomena. Trolling is intended to derail a discussion. Satire is intended to give people a (rueful) laugh.
Ian
Did you not know that Craig Murray and the Mods have stated several times that they do not approve of posters calling other posters trolls?
I wonder how a “determination to destroy the United Kingdom” is supposed to manifest itself.
The twin virtues of cowardice and idleness would seem to be sufficient to destroy not only the UK but all of Europe. Given that Europe has never known anything but tranquility and peace then how could anyone foresee what kind of issues may present themselves.
Idleness and cowardice should be sufficient to ensure that the UK does not leave the EU. Idleness and cowardice should be sufficient to ensure that there is not much in the way of a backlash for failing to leave the EU – and everyone can proceed merrily on their way.
Not leaving the EU will provide conclusive proof that no peaceful means exist for anyone to leave the EU. Still who cares about this especially when a majority of people in France, Germany and Poland believe that the EU will collapse into some form of civil war. It is not like any of these countries have any experience of fighting on European soil and so all should be well. All you need to do is piss of enough Germans and they will bring the whole house down for you – and you can all relax hiding under your beds praying to the twin gods of Idleness and Cowardice.
Sounds like a really smart idea – but one that could never be understood outside of the intellectual elite.
Anyone who thinks that Hobson is the last word on the causes and development of imperialism, and Trump is everything that meets the eye is bad;y misinformed.
A Katyusha rocket has fallen on Baghdad not far from the US embassy. No casualties. Let”s not pass judgment but who wants a war in Iran as well as Israel?
As the Jerusalem Post says both the US [prince of lies] and Iran have both declared they do not want war. It would certainly not be in Iran’s best interests to do something absolutely stupid with all US seafaring warfarers sitting in the Med. I think we can work out where this provocation is coming from.
https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Blast-heard-in-central-Baghdad-close-to-US-Embassy-Reuters-witnesses-590120
This is an updated report from Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty which on the stub said 15 hours ago (Google). I found one report from Fox News which the stub gave as two days ago though the article itself record it as tonight. What is going on? Do they prepare these press releases days in advance knowing they are going to happen?
https://www.rferl.org/a/reports-exxonmobil-evacuates-us-staff-from-iraq-amid-tensions-with-iran/29950522.html
I’d guess a lot of these things are planned months in advance.
I’ve noticed over the years that they like to ramp up tensions in the Middle East, bomb people, and start wars with Muslim countries during Ramadan. My theory is that they want to antagonise and provoke people as much as possible.
Of course, Iran wouldn’t dream of instigating a conflict with them. They push and push but Iran continues to behave rationally; they know they’d get wiped off the face of the earth if they so much as blinked in the wrong direction.
Iran is completely surrounded by hostile forces that are armed to the teeth.
Saudi Arabia spends eight time more on weapons than a blockaded Iran. I would not be surprised if it already had the bomb via Pakistan which it financed.
It goes without saying that a Katyusha rocket can’t reach Baghdad from the Iranian border, so it could have been any one of the factions. Attributing the attack to Iran is just capricious. But a classic American move.
Most of the Iraqi elite live in the Green Zone these days, so the motivation could have been literally anything. Political infighting, anything.
@ CB
‘..I can’t. Please be more specific. If you dare…’
Only a very ill-informed person doesn’t know that Isr^^l has been promoting war against Iran, so your bluff is called.
Goss
” I think we can work out where this provocation is coming from.”
I can’t. Please be more specific. If you dare.
“However, I remain hopeful that Trump can outplay John Bolton and prevent any immediate escalation.”
I hope you’re right. Draft-dodger Bolton is gung-ho for war as long as he does not personally have to take up arms. Sadly so many decisions have gone against Trump, like having to appoint torture Madam Gina Haspel, and even John Bolton himself. I can’t see it being the strategic ploy of keeping one’s enemies close to one, but more likely the imposition of the Deep State – those who actually run the country. The US is looking more and more like Nazi Germany every day. The UK is not much better in trying to impose a law to protect UK troops from war-crimes.
Many of us hope, that Mr. Murray is right, imho.
May 14 Pompeo arrived in Sochi, Russia for some negotiations. No specific reports on the topic or results in the news. I had the same feeling when Netanyahu unexpectedly arrived in Moscow for the Victory day.
America usually does not favour Russia with friendliness and visits of high-ranking officials. Something is planned and the States want to know in advance the mood of Russia.
John Goss
John, I already think that the “Hague Invasion act” protects UK troops from facing war crimes accusations. It was drawn up by G W Bush in 2003, and protects ALL allies of the US.
I think the real “axis of evil” in the World today is – US, UK and France.
On the issue of depression and helplessness I offer this, although you’re sure to be familiar with it already:
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
By Max Ehrmann © 1927
Original text
Norma, thanks for that. I have to wonder how advice like that would be received in poverty black spots of the world where people in their millions watch their kids die slowly of hunger and very preventable diseases.
“Ecuador has, entirely illegally, compounded its illegal refoulement of a political refugee by handing over all of Julian Assange’s personal effects to the United States of America, on no legal basis whatsoever”. Can the Equadorian Ambassador steal [as described in the 1968 Theft Act] some of J Assanges property whether in the form of chattels or other intangible property, Surely they cannot treat such property as their own, and most certainly not pass them on to a third party. Hope his lawyers are burning the midnight oil on this. If the police know that all this illegality is going on, what are they doing about it.
Good comment Harry Law. These are very bad times for justice and the criminal Lenin Moreno should be in prison – not Julian Assange.
In prison on what charges, Goss?
Chas, a brief search would have shown this: https://www.independent.ng/the-corruption-case-against-ecuadors-president-lenin-moreno/
So, I suppose the answer would be corruption.
@CB
Charges of ‘Impersonating a human being’.
The US will be after his computer and hard-drives no doubt. They will then allege they found all sorts of incriminating evidence on it – which (of course) they will have placed there themselves. As with the OPCW and Douma case, there will be issues with the chain of custody of incriminating evidence.
Calvert
Surely you would not wish for any evidence – either of guilt or innocence- to be overlooked?
Bostock
Surely you don’t think that the United States government is an unprejudiced investigator seeking truth and justice?
What do you think “Chain of custody” means?
Bostock
I welcome your belated recognition that evidence shouldn’t be overlooked. Now, practice what you preach and look at the dodgy evidence in support of the government’s narrative on the Salisbury poisoning and the hugely supportive evidence of this being a false flag operation.
No, I thought not.
Enjoyed the second part
The First Four Lines of this post.. are captivating, Heart breaking…Thank you Craig.
Hatuey
May 18, 2019 at 19:45 was too
then there was the baby,, Died alone Because Israel would not allow family to see her last breath.
Slightly OTT but “something is up”. (“Something most definitely is up”) Juke Harding of Guardian fame has resurrected the Skripal affair with an article alleging the two alleged Russian agents received a mystery phone call shortly after the time of the alleged poisoning.
probably somebody hacking their WhatsApp.
If Juke says it is true it is a sure thing that it isn’t. Right on cue Bellingcat will now duly submit their phone bill receipts which prove this beyond doubt.
I have ideas for Bellingcat 🙂
What if the phone call was received on a smartphone manufactured by Huawei?
Also, it’s highly likely the alleged agents spoke the language of a type developed by Russia.
Extremely suspicious and a lot of room for all sorts of speculation.
We now have a Russian made Katyusha rocket that has landed near the US Embassy in Bagdad and Trump has tweeted:
“If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”
The last sentence is interesting….
Trump has said he is not seeking war with Iran.
Iran has said it is not seeking war with the U.S.A.
If the U.S.A. are not seeking war why are they stationing B-52 fleet in the Gulf?
The question is not whether the US wants war with Iran, but which factions in Washington want war, and are they likely to win the game (with a Trump who’s personally disinclined for war, as it’s too much work, and likely to prevent him spending his days watching the TV, and tweeting).
Good question since America alone has enough of a military presence in the region at all times to fight and win against every country in the world at the same time. Add to that Israel with its massive Air Force — apparently more powerful than that of the whole of NATO if you remove the US — and Saudi Arabia, not to mention the usual bunch of grovelling sycophants, Britain, France, etc.
Every two years we get the same PR stunt. I guess we are all supposed to be really worried and distracted and keep coughing up money for their war games.
“since America alone has enough of a military presence in the region at all times to fight and win against every country in the world at the same time.”
Are you joking? When did the US last win a war? OK, Kuwait, but only because Bush the Elder held back from advancing on Baghdad. But they’ve had multiple losses, through poor political planning. Israel too is in a pretty weak position, as only the airforce is now fit for purpose – the army won’t fight, if it’s asked to. It’s why they’re all making such a big noise at the moment, when actually going to war would be a big commitment, which wouldn’t go down well with the electorate.
Well, Laguerre, if the US and Israel are so militarily weak and incompetent you can stand down and stop worrying, can’t you. Relax and be happy! 🙂
A poor response, CB. Did I claim the US is weak? That indeed is the problem – the former colossus makes poor decisions not in its own interests, because of palace politics and Israeli agents whispering in presidential ears. Israel only survives because of that, in spite of Israel’s own poor policy making, as well demonstrated by Israeli history professor Avi Shlaim.
When did the US last win a war?
Nowadays the US* does not usually aim to win a war in the conventional sense. It aims to create a situation of perpetual chaos, conflict and poverty. It destroys the infrastructure, provokes and maintains deadly rivalry between factions, appoints ineffective puppet government, brings in global corporations to extract the resources, and sets up permanent bases to maintain this new status quo.
*ie the puppet masters who control the US govenment.
The US won the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; it was the peace they lost.
@ Kempe May 20, 2019 at 14:28
Both ‘Wars’ were illegal and based on lies. The ruined countries may be called a ‘win’ for the War Criminal US/NATO block, just like a mugger might call his successful mugging of an old lady a ‘win’, and the Mafia may well call the murder of the family of someone who was standing up against their blackmail a ‘win’.
@ CB: Just because they are both very powerful, does not make them right. Both Administrations are evil – the Devil looks after his own.
Laguerre, “Are you joking? When did the US last win a war?”
A better question would be “when did they last fight a war?”
I personally don’t define pummelling small and essentially defenceless countries like Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Serbia as wars.
That all said, Iran would be a another typical victim and it nearly ticks all the boxes. It’s weak and almost completely isolated. I guess Iran’s friendship with Russia and China explains why it still has not been flattened.
There are other political reasons, such as a possible Shi’a uprising that would impact on Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and others but I think they’re prepared for that.
American warfare puts a lot of emphasis on airpower for a reason but they are extremely powerful in that dept.
You lose the peace if you lose the war, by accident or design.
If going near a fence was a reason to get shot ( or blown up by a tank shell) then my old footballing mates and myself would have had many grieving mothers.
Rockets from Palestine into Israel is turned into an equals sign by the MSM as ‘War.’
It’s nothing off the kind.
CNN commentators praising ” Beautiful missiles ” fired from ships well out of harms way is glorified.
Yosemite Sam Bolton and his warmongering acolyte Chicken Hawks will be nowhere near any action and Donald has got bad feet – so that’s him out.
Both of these nations have one thing in common ( and it’s sort of a good thing ) in that they fear blowback from any casualties of their own with their populace.
Why – because they keep telling their people that War is easy and has no cost.
Iran has not been pre-disarmed and two countries ( none is the US ) may come out of this possible conflict a lot worse than when they went in.
I don’t wish it for anyone but the US loves its proxy fighters.
The proxies do the boots on the ground stuff, whilst the US sits in the sea with their ” Beautiful Missiles ”
It’s called ‘ Destocking ‘ in the Military Supplies Contractors.
There’s a lot of Pro Lifers around in the US these days.
They are obviously selective as to who’s Life they are for.
Certainly not Palestinian or Iranian lives.
I watched “I Daniel Blake” when my wife and I were unemployed at the time and Ken Loach is a great director. Every bit of his film, summed up how people who have fallen on hard times are treated by the state.
I will have to go and watch this one, because zero hours contracts are one of the most disgusting employment loopholes/traps in existence.
Trump only comes to town to enlist our government to war on Iran, I only hope it doesn’t slip under the radar like the 100m memorial planned next to Parliament. With the November 2020 election cycle well under way the urgency of the devils is palpable, pimpeo will soon be giving us another Colin Powell like moment. The labour parachuted together with Joan Ryan (of the brown paper bag) and co may be expected to vote a resounding aye that may succeed unlike the 2013 Syria war vote which labour under milliband defeated. Interestingly where does a wounded treeza fit in all this?
@ Bomb bomb bumbler May 20, 2019 at 10:16
We have already seen the ‘4 ships attacked’ in the vicinity of Iran, and the Katyusha allegedly fired ‘from areas where Iranian Militias operate’: expect some more ‘attacks’ to be blamed on Iran. See ”That Time John Bolton Said It’s Good To Lie About War’:
https://www.greanvillepost.com/2019/05/16/that-time-john-bolton-said-its-good-to-lie-about-war/?
In the second part, Neocon Patrick Lawson, if not openly admitting that the pre-WWI provocation of sending ammunition and explosives in the passenger liner Lusitania in order for the Germans to sink it as a legitimate target (and the Germans put ads in American newspapers warning passengers that they would target it) in order to draw America into WWI. President Woodrow Wilson, who had been ‘placed’ into power by Banksters in order to facilitate the founding of the Federal Reserve (in contravention of the Constitution) and as an easily manipulable President to get America into WWI (though he apparently was against America getting involved), was putty in the hands of the Banksters and Militarists.
And others: Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbour, American Civil War.
@ Bomb bomb bumbler May 20, 2019 at 10:16
Colin Powell didn’t have just one ‘moment’ – most people are unaware he was the officer who tried to cover up the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
The reason for the “anti-Semitism” of the time was because Jews were prominent in banking and so any critic of the financial order would inevitably notice that fact.
Now whether the Jews were actually Jews, or non-Jews is a moot point, but if they’re non-Jews, just Bankers, why are critics of bankers deemed “anti-Semitic”, which of course was the accusation against Corbyn regarding an East End mural, depicting mostly non-Jewish bankers, except one with allegedly a big nose.
“Hunt has just put out a quite ludicrous advisory against dual nationals traveling to Iran”. Do you (Craig) believe that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Aras Amiri are British agents, or not?
@ M.J. May 20, 2019 at 14:52
When did you stop beating your wife/husband?
With regard to the USA’s financial colonialism initiatives since the early 20th century there’s no better source than Michael Hudson’s “Super Imperialism,” first published in 1972 and substantially revised and updated in 2003. A heterodox economist and economic historian Hudson, who turns 80 sometime this year, is still at the top of his game. Two of his recent books are must reads: “Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Destroy the Global Economy,” published in 2015 and “forgive them their debts: Lending, Foreclosure and Redemption from Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year,” which came out late last year. You can check out his other writings at http://michael-hudson.com/
Or how about : Imperialism, the highest stage of Capitalism, by a certain Vladimir Lenin.