Standing back a little and surveying the events of the last couple of weeks, gives a bleak view of the current state of western democracy.
We have seen what appears to be the most unconvincing of false flags in the Gulf. I pointed out why it was improbable Iran would attack these particular ships. Since then we have had American military sources pointing to video evidence of a packed small Iranian boat allegedly removing a limpet mine from the ship the Iranians helped to rescue, which was somehow supposed to prove it was the Iranians who planted the alleged device. We also have had the Japanese owner specifically contradict the American account and say that the ship was hit by flying objects.
The Iranians certainly have a strange method of bomb disposal if they carry it out using unarmoured personnel, with as many as possible crammed into a small boat in immediate contact with the “mine”. It is also hard to understand why the alleged “limpet mines” would be four feet above the waterline.
Limpet mines are placed below the waterline. There are numerous reasons for this. Firstly, holes above the waterline will not sink a ship. Secondly, the weight of the water helps contain the blast against the ship. Thirdly, it is obviously harder to detect both the diver placing the mine and the mine once placed if it is below the water. In fact it would be very difficult for a diver to place a limpet mine four feet above the waterline, even if they wanted to.
There seems to be a remarkable disconnect between the widespread popular disdain at yet another fake western power casus belli in the Middle East, and the near universal complicity of the UK political and media class in promoting this transparent lie. It is as though even pretending to have any respect for truth and fact has simply been discarded within the UK’s governmental system. Which ought to worry us a lot.
The second development ought to have been the biggest media story of the decade in the UK, if we had anything like a free and honest media. Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, made plain the Trump administration’s intent to prevent the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister. Pompeo told a meeting of Jewish leaders:
It could be that Mr. Corbyn manages to run the gantlet and get elected. It’s possible. You should know, we won’t wait for him to do those things to begin to push back.
This blatant interference by a foreign power in the UK’s democracy is an absolute scandal. Compare the lack of media outrage at Pompeo’s intervention with the ludicrous claims made about much less high profile Russian attempts at influence. This incident provides incontrovertible proof that the world does indeed operate in the way that I have been explaining here for a decade. It is not a “conspiracy theory” that democracy is manipulated by hidden powers, it is fact. Pompeo’s description of Corbyn’s route to election as “running the gauntlet” is particularly revealing. Even more so is the cursory coverage this story was given, and I have seen no evidence to date of any MSM “journalist” attempting any follow-up investigation on the methods the US are planning to employ – or more likely already employing – against Corbyn.
Everybody should be incandescent at this, no matter who they vote for.
Something else which revealed the truth of the way the political world now operates, and which again did not get nearly the media attention it deserves, was Matt Kennard’s stunning revelation of the way the Guardian has been taken over by the security services. I have been explaining for years that the Guardian has become the security services’ news outlet of choice, and it is very helpful to have documentation to prove it.
It is worth noting that the Guardian obeyed completely the DSMA committee ban on mentioning Pablo Miller in reporting the security service fantasy version of the Skripal story. As Kennard points out, it is also very interesting indeed that the Guardian published Luke Harding’s front page fabrication of Manafort/Assange meetings two weeks after MOD Director Dominic Wilson congratulated Guardian deputy editor Paul Johnson on “re-establishing links” with the security services. The Guardian is, like other British newspapers, as controlled by the military and security services just like in any other decent autocracy.
Incidentally, I cannot find Matt Kennard’s excellent work set out anywhere, except in that twitter stream. Surely there is an article on a website somewhere? I cannot find anything on Google, but as it is exactly the kind of information Google routinely suppresses, that does not mean it is not out there. Anyone seen it?
Finally, we have of course seen Sajid Javid sign the extradition warrant for Julian Assange to be sent to the United States for the “crime” of publishing truthful information about US government illegalities. Julian’s extradition hearing was, contrary to normal practice, held despite the fact he was too sick to attend in person. And it was presided over by Judge Arbuthnot, despite the fact that her husband is a former Tory defence minister who started a “security consultancy” in partnership with a former head of MI6, the war criminal John Scarlett who oversaw the fabrication of the dossier of lies about Iraqi WMD, in order to launch an illegal war of aggression that killed and maimed millions. The Assange team had asked her to recuse herself on that pretty obvious basis, but she had refused. At an earlier hearing she taunted Assange with the observation that he could get adequate exercise in the Embassy on a 1.5 meter Juliet balcony.
Just as the Guardian has never apologised for, nor withdrawn, the utter lie of the Assange/Manafort story, so the identity politics promoting, false “left” has never apologised for its pursuit of Assange over sexual allegations in Sweden, which were obvious on the slightest scrutiny to be only a fit-up designed to get him into custody. Those figures like David Allen Green, Joan Smith and David Aaronovitch, among scores of other pustulous hacks, who mocked and scorned those of us who always said that Assange faced not extradition to Sweden but to the United States for publishing, have been shown up as, at the very best, stupid naive and unwitting tools of the state, and more likely, insincere and vicious propagandists.
This brief review of current issues reveal that not only do western governments lie and fake, they have really given up on trying to pretend that they do not. The abuse of power is naked and the propaganda is revealed by the lightest effort to brush away the veneer of democracy.
I find it hard to believe that I live in times where Assange suffers as he does for telling the truth, where a dedicated anti-racist like Corbyn is subjected to daily false accusations of racism and to US and security service backed efforts to thwart his democratic prospects, where the most laughable false flag is paraded to move us towards war with Iran, and where there is no semblance of a genuinely independent media. But, starkly, that is where we are. This is not unrelated to the massive and fast growing inequality of wealth; the erosion of freedom is the necessary precondition that allows the ultra-wealthy to loot the rest of us. It remains my hope there will eventually come a public reaction against the political classes as strong as the situation demands.
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Good piece, as ever. Just surprised, when talking of Pompeo’s threat to push back against Corbyn that you didn’t spare a moment to consider how much open assistance Boris Johnson has received from Trump, and whether he might be receiving behind-the-scenes support for his leadership campaign.
Thank you Mr Murray.
One quick observation I made was that the image of the boat next to the tanker matches well distance shots of the same tanker, and using the markings on the tanker it is clear that boat is right next to one of the small holes claimed to be from limpet mines. This means that they did not remove an unexploded mine at all, most likely they are doing an inspection to see if the ship is a risk from the small hole.
Also, is there any way to identify who’s small boat it is? There seem to be no markings or flags.
Please keep up your excellent work.
Yes even the grainy images positively identify the boat as a Gashti Class patrol vessel of the Iranian Republican Guard.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D9ADK_IUEAEmuG_.jpg
Picture taken in 2016 at the commissioning ceremony.
If they weren’t removing a bit of incriminating evidence what were they doing and why haven’t the Iranians issued any kind of explanation? It’s also very convenient that Iran had boats in the immediate area ready to rescue most of the crews. The same witnesses who saw the “flying objects” also spotted an Iranian warship in the area but note how that isn’t mentioned.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-tanker-japan-damage/flying-objects-damaged-japanese-tanker-during-attack-in-gulf-of-oman-idUSKCN1TF0M9
It has been suggested that it was a magnetic anchor which was removed.
https://twitter.com/OpWolverines/status/1139496789457768450
Which makes a lot of sense as it only took one person to remove it and the majority of the people in the boat are most likely the people who were rescued from the tanker.
Yeah right. Suggested by who?
Why go to all that trouble just to recover a magnetic anchor? Who placed it there, when and why? If it is innocent why don’t the IRG speak up and say so? Why the silence?
The tanker sent it’s first distress call at 0612 local time, the crew abandoned ship in their lifeboats and were initially picked up by another merchant ship, the Coastal Ace, before being transferred to Iranian Naval vessels. The IRG boat didn’t approach the tanker until 1610, (local) nearly ten hours later. Why would survivors be aboard the boat for that length of time especially as it wasn’t the boat that first rescued them.
The suggestion comes from the person in the tweet link.
I appreciate your other comments.
None of this makes good sense as of now.
The story that the US is pushing seems less likely than the boat captain’s story. i.e. limpet or missile.
Oliver Williams
Quite correct Oliver, a necessar piece of kit when mooring against larger vessels.
I have been looking for details on limpet mines and would like to add a couple of details about them.
They are (the Iranian variety) usually conical in shape with a diameter of 0.5 metre and they weigh around 40 – 50 kilos. There is no way I would like to handle 40+ kilos of explosive device whilst bobbing around in a little boat.
Finally, almost all limpet mines are fitted with anti tamper mechanisms – you never, ever go back to a lit firework.
Well that looks like what was attached to the tanker.
https://gdb.rferl.org/0684BCD8-F8CA-4245-B231-155639EBFD47_cx22_cy14_cw78_w1597_n_r1_st.jpg
Certainly too big to be a magnetic anchor and the question of when and why it would’ve been attached still remain unanswered.
“Certainly too big to be a magnetic anchor and the question of when and why it would’ve been attached still remain unanswered”
and, more importantly, how. These questions are easier to answer, if you don’t start with the assumption that it is a piece of munitions designed to be attached below the water line by a diver (things weigh less under water), but, of course, that’s not a road you want to go down.
Ah, did wonder how long it’d take the state apologists to turn up. Where’s Charles, is he doing the later shift today?
“Yes even the grainy images positively identify the boat as a Gashti Class patrol vessel of the Iranian Republican Guard.”
Yes, because boats are unique to nation states, obviously. How does a grainy image of a similar shape vessel constitute ‘positive identification’? It’s impossible to conclude with certainty that the tanker in the video is even one of the ones allegedly targeted, never mind that it ‘positively identifies’ the IRG. The Iranian’s clearly aren’t stupid enough to fall into the trap of issuing a denial so that the American’s can immediately produce another ‘smoking gun’. I’d agree with the other posters who suggest this is a video of the rescue operation mounted by the Iranians, designed only to fool those who aren’t interested enough to check, helpfully abetted by useful idiots like yourself.
Lets play your game for a moment and say this video is what it purports to be. Leaving aside the lack of logic in taking a course of action that invites the Americans to retaliate in the first place, what’s the rational for;
Holing the tanker above the waterline? Limpet mines are designed to be placed under water for maximum effect, why would the ERG not do so? Ineptitude? The load mark on the tanker can be seen in the video, it’s almost fully laden, so any mine wasn’t placed when the tanker sat lower in the water or any rubbish like that.
Removing the non-detonated mine? Destroying incriminating evidence is somewhat undermined if there’s a video of you doing it. So the man at the front of the vessel is supposedly reaching up to remove the illogically placed mine (which would be difficult given the apparent weight of the mine and the sea conditions) – what are the other dozen or so people doing? Spectating? This in spite of the fact that any mistake by the man at the front would certainly kill the lot of them.
” Destroying incriminating evidence is somewhat undermined if there’s a video of you doing it. ”
Still better than leaving it to be discovered though and the risks were clearly thought justified. You have to remember that these Muslim nut jobs have a different view on death. Had the mine gone off all they’d all be martyrs and off to paradise for their 72 virgins,
” Yes, because boats are unique to nation states ” They are pretty much yes, unless you can produce any evidence of similar boats being used by any other Gulf states. How could it be part of the rescue operation when the crew were picked up from their lifeboats ten hours previously by another cargo ship?
The Iranians have stated their intention to close the Straits of Hormuz before, I think they’re being very canny about it and trying to cause as little risk to life as they can. Insurance for ships sailing into the gulf has already risen 20 fold. Once it rises so much the voyage becomes unprofitable or underwriters refuse cover the Iranians will have achieved their objective with very little outlay and without loss of life or limb.
“You have to remember that these Muslim nut jobs have a different view on death. Had the mine gone off all they’d all be martyrs and off to paradise for their 72 virgins,”
You fucking oaf.
From what I could see on marinetraffic.com the ship was moving in a straight line long after the attack. She may have been drifting, or heading slowly into the wind on minimum power, but was not under command.
These guys with the mooring attachment may have been a marine salvage crew trying to get on board to attach a tow line. It maybe that the first attachment point was not suitable for the purpose of deploying access equipment and needed moving to a different location. She is not a large tanker, 170mtr loa, and has stair access
She is now anchored in the UAE Anchorage of Fujairah and being tended by the UAE tug Al Wahsh.
The other tanker is a bit bigger and is also in the same anchorage.
Surprise surprise! An Iranian ship spotted in the Persian gulf? And the whole of a US fleet and helicopters and warships are ignored by Kempe.
And today in particular may bring us the greatest amount of “momentum” we have experienced from British politics for a long time. The front page headline today in the Torygraph is truly remarkable: “Did Rory Stewart spy for MI6? Intrigue surrounds Tory candidate’s past as leadership race intensifies“. Why on earth would an MI6 background appear as handicap to a senior Tory? Who is this guy a threat to? It’s hard not to think that that should be a key question and that the intention here is not “only” distractive, a case of “Any story that isn’t about Boris Johnson will suffice.” Isn’t the Torygraph the MI6 house journal, for crying out aloud? Watch that royal connection.
Another question: Eton College has two horses in this race – Boris Johnson and Rory Stewart. At the high table, among the senior figures at that institution, who is the more popular candidate for the Tory leadership? Is it Boris Johnson, the known liar and former journalist, the man with a string of illegitimate children who is not insane like Donald Trump but whose public attitude towards many people is that they can f*** off? Or is it Rory Stewart, the man who “understands the native mind”, who has a background in hush-hush service, and who is a friend of the crown prince (mother currently aged 93) whose sons he once tutored? (Sure, the fact that the boys needed an outside tutor in mathematics and English when they were at Eton suggests that the “education” they were receiving from Eton was a load of crap, but that’s not how the senior men at Eton College will understand it.)
Today looks as though it will be a corker. Theresa May is likely to express her support for one of the candidates before the TV debate starts. Given deputy prime minister David Lidington’s support for Rory Stewart yesterday she is likely to endorse Stewart too. The next most likely is Jeremy Hunt. Johnson’s level of support in the second round of the ballot may well be underwhelming. If so, that will be an enormous talking point immediately preceding the debate where he will deign to show his face if he is not knocked out by that time. He’s had his hair cut, but how is he going to cut back on the arrogance?
The talk about him lending votes to another candidate, namely Jeremy Hunt, is “clever clever”. Tories love to think that their process for electing their leader is really clever and that Tory MPs are “the most intelligent electorate in the world”. What that really means is they love doing things behind closed doors, bunch of liars and crooks and spivs and arrogant sh*ts that they are. Might the line that “Boris is so far ahead that he’s going to lend votes to a rival” be expectation management in preparation for him getting fewer votes in the second round than seems safe? He looks as though he’s on his back foot to me. I am still tipping either Hunt or Stewart as the next Tory leader.
The second round result will be declared at 6pm, the TV debate starts at 8pm, and I doubt it will feature the full maximum of five candidates.
MI6 and royal connections…all the qualifications necessary to be a Russian agent!
I’ve never researched the matter so forgive me if this is a stupid question.
Question: What remit do the UK spy agencies have, if any, to interfere in domestic UK politics if they believe interference to be in the vaguely defined ‘national interest’ which they are sworn to protect?Do they answer to the Queen or PM?
If they believe for example a candidate X , will result in the possible break-up of the UK or economic damage to to the UK, can they wade in? What is the scope?
Does not having a written constitution muddy things?
Also not done any research but I’d suspect/hope the official answer to this is none what-so-ever. Seems like allowing that kind of power in an official capacity would risk a coup too easily.
Though I’m sure its not exactly a difficult task for any head of a service to fool the politicians with some scary briefings and emotive images if they so desire. From an outside perspective it seems increasingly like the security services have formed their own branch of government which sits parallel to, or even above, the executive, and is able to act with impunity.
I get the impression the ISC is a waste of time. I of course don’t know, because its deliberations are secret(duh) But you only have to look who is on and how infrequently it meets. Lots right-leaning people a veritable who’s who of authoritarian types, with a few notable exceptions like Dominic Grieve and the SNP’s Ian Blackford. But these guys aren’t tech qualified and they thus can’t probe technical matters.
We really need a solid, on-site, qualified expert independent oversight and a clear written constitution, so anyone abusing their powers know they will have to answer.
Goes back to the democratic/constitutional reform argument again.
Whether British state security agencies have a remit to interfere in domestic politics is sadly largely irrelevant, since they have a very long history of doing just that and doing it without consequences.
They are charged with protecting the state and they get to decide who the enemies are and what exactly represents the state, or I suspect its ‘interests’.
MI5 have had no problem in confessing to the fact that between the wars it was not fascism, either here or in Europe that consumed their interest but Labour politicians, members of the British Communist party, trade unions and workers’ organisations.
Indeed helping Mussolini get on his feet with £100 a week, rather suggests our secret services were rather keen on fascism getting a foothold.
I don’t recall William Francis Forbes-Sempill, 19th Lord Sempill being tried for treachery post WW2, despite clearly being guilty under the Treachery Act 1940, of passing naval secrets to the Japanese. The state however had no problem executing German spies.
From that I’d guess MI5 et al look first after the establishment and worry more about those they’d consider the enemy within and potentially a threat to the status quo, i.e.: the people.
He, the repugnant Stewart, is getting absolutely revolting fawning and gushing treatment on the ever cringeworthy Border TV: all the news from Northumberland, Carlisle, Cumbria and the Lake District beamed into Southern Scotland. Discraceful in itself this anomalous situation, that the ‘local’ TV station for is not only not local, but it’s in and from another country. Convinced that no person in their right mind would or could ever vote for such a person. or any Tory, as their MP, I’m forced to assume, if the voting system has not seriously interfered with, that the residents of his and many English constituencies are in fact not in their right minds at all. Can they all be doing so well that the crunch of Range Rovers on long gravel driveways is music to their ears, are so many really they doing well and want ever more Tory thuggery towards the low-caste have-nots, who’re voting Tory themselves out of masochism, or have the proles simply submitted to threats of post-election retribution, or simply ceased to vote. A handful of thick useless, gormless chinless-wonders and hooray-henries are tearing up the social fabric of Britain. Meanwhile several forests-worth of ceaseless bumf, with a seemingly fishing-obsessed Farage’s grinning coupon thereon is spilling through letter-boxes and quickly filling wheelie-bins far and wide.
The reaction was Brexit and leaving the political institutions but remaining for now in the customs union would be a good compromise.
The short video shows the boat leaving, but it appears to me to be taking the same route, in reverse, as if it were approaching! I would have thought the boat would simply go forward, or at least a short reverse before going forward! I’m not sure what that tells other than the video has been shown in reverse, why would they do that?
“why would they do that?”
Perhaps so as not to reveal that the ‘mine’ (i.e. hole) was already there on the vessel before the boat arrived.
On second thought that’s the very reason for the ‘mine’ story in the first place.
Another small point, without uninterrupted time and date stamps, this whole thing could be made up/be old footage taken years back.
I feel as if our current self inflicted political machinations around Brexit and leadership are having a dampening influence on the background preparations for another attack under false pretences.
The single, core, central, fact; is that the state/media no longer seem bothered that their various narratives are false, or fake, and make no sense, if scrutinised for about a… milisecond. Not that are scrutinised by a castrated media. Things are actually getting worse and easier for the state, especially as we move towards more wars. Will it be Venezuela, Iran, North Korea? Our choices seem endless! With, in the end, China and Russia the big targets. They can choose between total capitulation, regime change; or devastating war.
Basically, Power, Raw Power, is returning to the very centre of the political stage. This is what Trump represents and the people around him, like Bolton and Pompeo and worse back there in the shadows. The American ruling elite no feel they need to appear… ‘diplomatic’ or even ‘friendly’ in relation to their vassals in the rest of the empire. That they now speak in public like they do in private, is a significant development.
The corporate media’s role in all this is a disgrace and the Assange Affair illustrates what’s happening. The total destruction of critical or investigative journalism and the open persecution of ‘heretics’ like Assange who attempt to push the envelope of what ‘journalism’ should be. Journalists, given the employment structure of the media, are incredibly sensitive to what ‘sells’ and what kind of profile gets one’s career moving upwards. On the one hand of sees Luke Harding at the Guardian, who becomes vastly wealthy for writing… muck fed to him with a silver spoon by the security services; compared to Assange who is crushed like a butterfly on the wheel for daring to publish the bloody truth about our wars.
So, what we considered ‘bourgeois liberal democracy’ is seemingly on its way out, having played its historic role for a brief period, linked to the rise of the communist threat and fascism in the 20th century. Despite it’s faults bourgeois democracy did present a less brutal face than the old system before the rise of democracy. I’ll miss it! The Guardian looks like the canary in the coalmine. Its lurch to the political right, its embrace of the security state and the disgraceful treatment of Assange, shows the way we’re going.
” … shows the way we’re going.”
Not if Jeremy Corbyn is elected.
What a huge weight rests on that man’s shoulders. He remains a real hope for a more decent, more democratic society, country and, yes, world – which is why the right-wing, the Israeli government and the American regime attack him so much.
Boris Johnson wanted to pay men to beat up a person he had a grievance with. With Mi5 at his command what night he do with Jeremy Corbyn? The fact that Conservative party members are voting for him on mass just shows a real naivety and foolhardiness on their part. Surely some of them are aware that it’s a genie that should be left in the bottle.
“Not if Corbyn is elected”
I have long been an admirer of Corbyn; but if he becomes PM, it will be in shackles. He will not be allowed to fulfil his promise.
It really depends in the turnout at the GE. A 70%+ would give Labour a chance to form the Govt.
72% and a sufficient overall majority would exist to pass all of their manifesto in the first session!
Of course being a human led Labour – they may even get the SNP and Greens on board.
The Tory rump, their bossom buddies LibDems, DUP and any left over Blairite rebels wouldn’t be able to have enough votes to stop the govt business.
Overall Labour had 800,000 fewer votes then Tories at the snap election. There were many who failed to register in time. But even so Amber Rudd was within a few dozen votes of losing – there were dozens of seats where a handful to a few thousand extra votes would have seen the The Tory MP booted out and left them unable to have a majority with the DUP.
Non of the leadership candidates are proposing to take their vision and ‘new’ manifesto to the country and get the legitimate mandate to implement it are they?
Democratic MY ARSE.
Chances are that the clown would lose in Harrow, as would IDS …
So the challenge is to make sure everyone is registered and also turns out to vote.
@ Dungroanin:
“Amber Rudd was within a few dozen votes of losing”
Amber Rudd’s majority in Hastings & Rye at GE 2017 was 346.
Annoyingly, an independent candidate, campaigning on some kind of anti-Rudd “corruption” issue, won 412 votes.
There was no guarantee that all his votes would otherwise have gone to the Labour candidate, but if 347 of them had, it would have been very gratifying to see her lose.
Hopefully the same independent will not make a re-appearance, although there may not be an agreement with the Greens not to put up a candidate next time, and I can also foresee the Brexit Party hoovering up more votes than UKIP got next time around, so she may yet still survive as MP after the next GE.
The problem is that the PLP is composed of people who plainly regard the manifesto as a mere scrap of paper, worthy of scant respect. They are elected by their constituencies, and to get a majority they have to have broad appeal, both outside the party and inside.
Across the country, most people are not in favour of radical reform. Most people are small-c conservatives, afraid for their jobs and the value of their houses. These are the people that elect Labour MPs to parliament. If they support legislation backing radical reform, they will lose their (well-remunerated) jobs at the next election.
I can’t see any way out of this conundrum, but a revolution.
I like Jezza, he stands, or stood, for most of the things I find to be important in politics.
However, I saw someone on Off-Guardian hypothesise he was simply trying to repeat Blair’s New Labour trick in a shabbier suit, which I do find to be quite compelling a theory. Prior to becoming leader I agreed with most of his positions and suggested policies but he’s been quietly rowing back towards the centre at every opportunity over the last couple of years, taking all those starry eyed young Momentum members with him. Remember, we elect the party, not the leader. If Corbyn winning the next election means we end up with a few years of Prime Minister Watson and his Friends Of Israel, I’m alright thanks.
The British system needs a shake up of the kind that no individual person would ever be able to create, never mind being allowed to do so by the security services and business interests. Corbyn’s a nice guy (I think), but he’s not the messiah who’s going to roll in and destroy neo-liberalism and all it’s corrosive effects in one parliamentary term.
Northern, may be he isn’t the messiah to usher in change. However, he is the only one that has a truly transformative manifesto and is in touch with what this country needs to sort this corrupt, sorry mess of a country the Tory Government has built. Goodness me, we need a Corbyn more than ever now, a man of peace, of intelligence of thought who must have the courage of a lion and the soul of a warrior to have absorbed such a sustained, vicious and malicious campaign against him by Integrity Initiative (Funded by the FCO to do so), by Trump, by the Israeli Government, by the MSM. I have never witnessed, ever in this country, such a malicious, vicious campaign against any Leader of the Opposition this century. If the MSM were not the official propaganda machine for the Tory Party Labour would be streets ahead in the Polls.
Marx took the view that history was made not by “Great Men”, but by the inevitable progress of historical development. He thought that this meant violent revolution – everywhere but in the UK, where he thought a purely political revolution might be possible.
I am no Marxist, but I share the view that history is not made by Great Men; rather that so-called Great Men are artifacts of history. And I believe the time has long passed when Marx’s vision of a peaceful revolution in this country was a possibility. Capital is now much too deeply entrenched, what remains of the proletariat (remember? Those with nothing to lose but their chains) is now no longer the masses, but a small proportion of the population, and I really can’t see Capital loosening its grip until serious force is applied.
I don’t mean the odd student riot, or a million environmentalists marching around London for a few days; what have those events changed? I mean general strikes, attacks on television stations and newspaper offices, crippling government agencies, and direct confrontation of armed government forces sent out against the people. These things will happen because things are continually getting worse; the rich are getting richer at the expense of the rest of us, no significant action is being taken to protect the environment for our grandchildren, the NHS is being sold off now, Trump trade-deal or not, and “austerity” is set to go on forever. Meanwhile we spend billions on utterly useless Naval projects such as the Trident replacement and those preposterous aircraft carriers, with no support fleet and no aircraft to speak of.
Remember: Corbyn, the life-long anti-nuclear campaigner, supported the Trident replacement.
@ Northern June 18, 2019 at 16:59
Obviously he has a heck of a difficult task – all the more reason decent people pull out all the stops to get him into No.10.
As i point out – the status quo cannot ultimately ignore the judgement of the voters.
Pmq’s thoughts.
May was close to using her quavering self pitying voice several times.
She knows her name will always be spelled Mud.
SNP leader has cojones and regularly kicks hers!
The standard accusation of 13 years of Blairism ruining the country’s finances10 years ago, as an excuse for continued under staffing and austerity in public services, is NEVER rebutted by these PLP members who were in the Blair/Brown government. Neither do they defend their man in the London Mayors office. They daily reveal their treachery to ‘their’ party.
No one has called out Pompeos comments re direct interference in UK politics – it is a lot more evident than the supposed Russian influence on the election of his Boss!
Oh and finally not a single mention of the real/false attack on the tankers or the Kashoggi murder by SA.
Lets face it, the Tories & their supporters would prefer slipping into fascism than having a system that advances social & economic equality/justice.
Dave X ‘slipping’ into facism. It’s already there!
I am 77 years old and getting angry, confused and (almost) depressed by the observation that “the state/media no longer seem bothered that their various narratives are false, or fake, and make no sense”
Excellent.
Just a reminder that ‘Judge’ Arbuthnot’s husband is Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom, one time Chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel and Chairman of the Defence Select Committee from 2005-2014
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Arbuthnot
He was a frequent visitor to Israel.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/10013/lord_arbuthnot_of_edrom#register
Cameron gave him a peerage in 2015.
See his Register of Interests on the HoL site: Chairman of the Advisory Board of Thales, and so on.
https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-arbuthnot-of-edrom/56 He still has power and influence.
and finally his lengthy speech last month in a debate entitled ‘Brexit: Common Security and Defence Policy Missions and Operations (European Union Committee Report)’
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2019-05-15/debates/701556F8-0C20-4276-AC95-91FB8B91A52B/BrexitCommonSecurityAndDefencePolicyMissionsAndOperations(EuropeanUnionCommitteeReport)#contribution-449F5FA6-8E49-462C-B279-2414EC1EABF6
Says it all.
Israel pulls ALL of the strings in ALL of the areas of our national governance.
“Israel pulls ALL of the strings in ALL of the areas of our national governance.”
Including among the “moderates” in the PLP, led by Watson.
You can’t blame the corruption and dishonesty of our politicians on others. That’s a cop out. And it really wouldn’t take much to cleanse British politics of these bootlickers.
British support for Israel can’t be separated from its role as junior partner in relation to the US. Thus, it follows that if the US suddenly decided to drop Israel and stopped supporting it, Britain would too.
Britain has demonstrated, though, that even when it comes to central planks of US foreign policy it can resist and take its own independent position. Britain managed that during the Vietnam War when, relatively speaking, Britain was much weaker than it is today and the US was much stronger.
All of the above make the actions of corrupt British politicians even more despicable than they would be if, as you suggest, our country was simply in the grip of Israel.
The evidence suggests that Israel like the UK (and others) is in the grip of a corrupt clique, that the clique has huge influence in the MSM, interests in Middle East Oil and arms sales, and they are rapping everything they do in the flag.
If there’s anything new in any of this, it’s extent to which so many people in the UK and elsewhere are happy to sit back and watch without saying or doing a thing about it; I blame the Internet which is a double-edged sword in terms of mobilising people and opposition.
Craig, I haven’t been poring over recent threads, so forgive me if this point has already been made here.
I’m bemused by how credulous Western journalists are about this video. Why is there no date or time stamp on it? Surely, this is the most obvious question? We know from the “Collateral Murder” video, if nothing else, that military videos are heavily “annotated” in this way. Why on earth, in 2019, would anyone take at face value a murky little snatch of video which has had all the date and time markings cropped out?
Plus, of course, all the very valid points you make about the video. It dismays me that decent journos such as Peter Oborne are saying merely that the video is “inconclusive”, rather than that it is manifestly a fraud.
The deck fittings in the video don’t look like those of the Kakuko Courageous.
Why originally put out the grainy black and white video implying that the manoeuvre was taking place at night? Even Trump was left under the impression that the footage was enhanced night vision.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UOhO-FqeLcI
The footage of the Iranian boat next to the tanker was taken in broad daylight by a Navy helicopter let we are to believe that the Iranians are content to conduct their “nefarious” business in full knowledge that they are being filmed
The US Navy also put out a statement that in the hours leading up to the attack, the Iranians took a potshot at one of their MQ9 drones which was monitoring Iranian Navy / IRGC activities in the area. We are not to see any of that footage.
The Pentagon has claimed that some days earlier a MQ9 drone was shot down over the Red Sea. Why use a relatively heavy MQ9 with its offensive payload for surveillance work when its 950 HP motor makes it vulnerable to heat seeking missiles? Better to use a Predator with an engine one tenth the size of a MQ9 (with a heat signature to match)? Are they using MQ9s as bait hoping to initiate an incident?
Putting the most dishonest and incompetent politician of modern times in charge of everything also says where we are.
Another one to follow in the UK if the predictions about Johnson becoming PM are correct.
That is who i was referring to Sharp Ears! But you’re right, the grand western alliance is about to be spearheaded by Laurel and Hardy!
Here’s another idiotic prat positioning himself for PM –
Hancock: Corbyn as PM would be ‘west’s first antisemitic leader since WWII’
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/05/majority-of-voters-think-boris-johnson-would-make-bad-pm-polling-expert
Heaven knows BorisJohnson has many faults: from my POV he is personally immoral, untrustworthy, cynical, lazy and arrogant. But I have read nothing to suggest he is corrupt, beyond his liking for tall buildings and grandiose public schemes alongside the river Thames.
Do you mean Boris? I don’t think even Trump himself would call himself a politician. Bankrupt and showman maybe.
Thank you.Truth will always prevail.
For truth to prevail the truth has to be widely known, but with most people informing themselves via the MSM, lies prevail.
As I correctly predicted.
For those claim US arent preparing a war on Iran:
US planning ‘tactical assault’ on Iran in response to ‘tanker attack’ — report
https://on.rt.com/9wjq
For the doubters, you should start realize what kind of crazy regime US really is.
I think you will find that an attack on a affiliate member of the SCO will be treated as an attack on the SCO itself.
The idea that Erdogan will let the attack happen is also mad.
Finally, the prospect of Israel escaping instant retaliation or the US/Nato forces is impossible to guarantee.
The crazies, Rapture lovers, second-coming junkies are the only assholes idiotic enough to attack Iran.
Yes unfortunately Iran nor Turkey have been approved as members yet..
Talking about Rapture lovers, have you seen this?
https://www.raptureready.com/
It’s not a parody site. It is pretty scary.
My word… you have surpassed yourself with this well reasoned article Craig, one of your best ever.
But even if Corbyn would try and fight these msm swatflies, nobody would amplify him.
The Guardian went all kibbutznik when they started controlling comments on your rebuttals at the torture inquiries, when they banned people who dared to link to your blog wanting to straighten their skewed take on it.
Since then AXA has moved in and is now being run as a tool to control the offices and policies of the Uk. They are organising Pompeo’s gauntlet and are undermining public opinion buy pushing an Atlanticist hegemony agenda .
Resource control, and lets face it , our brutal machinations and use/ creation of ME terror organisations, our financing of armed groups opposing ME leaders we dont like, such as Nasser in the past, are all coloured by our guile for oil and the money it makes us, whether we own these resources or not.
The media who perpetuates false narratives around JA since he published state terrorism and the murder of journalists and children in Iraq, is blind to their own future prospects, taking the money and asking no questions, his future is reality to all those who speak out in a principlled manner.
Thank you for this succinct work, i hope Eden went well.
Craig, I just want to add a few lines to my post yesterday.
While I agree more or less completely with your analysis, I would just urge you (and anyone else who might be of a similar mind and who might read this) to maintain your focus on the goal of a more inclusive and peaceful world where strong and independent nations and peoples can coexist in harmony and cooperation.
I think it is important to maintain the belief that the problems of the world can be overcome, even when things may seem quite dark, and the solutions to these problems may be far from obvious.
There is a possibility that after our Foreign Secretaries immediate reaction to the Americans, is it possible that they do not regard us as a foreign state therefore able to interfere
William Pirrie, either the truth or close to the truth, we share a lot of bases with the Americans for example,
Greenham Common ( now disbanded)
Mildenhall, Lakenheath, several others too
https://www.lakenheath.af.mil/
Then there are bases such as in the BIOT
Can B-52 aircraft fly from BIOT
@ michael norton June 18, 2019 at 13:21
B52’s can and do fly from Diego Garcia.
I notice that Alex Jones is taking the Trump line on the supposed Iranian mines. Looking at his fat face, it’s easy to tell he doesn’t really believe what he’s saying. He’s normally the first to shout “false flag” in situations like this but that would mean facing some uncomfortable truths.
Alex and everyone knows that this is the most blatant False Flag operation in living memory — False Flag operations usually make some sort of sense on a certain level but this one doesn’t.
Alex also suggests that Iran told the world it intended to do this if the Nuclear Deal was betrayed but that too is a lie — Iran said it may under certain circumstances block access to the Gulf (which as I understand it, based on laws of maritime borders etc., it legally could), but it has never threatened to indiscriminately sink any ships.
I didn’t hang around on his site long enough to see, but I guess in amongst all this he spouting the usual crap about fiat currencies and trying to sell gold and seeds to his idiotic followers.
Yes the obvious false-flag he miss!
Might have something to do with his pro-israel views,
Some examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxCI_DiAIJ8
Yes, I’m familiar with his seemingly pro-Israeli position. More than anything, I think Alex Jones is simply motivated by money and self-aggrandisement. I used to listen to his show years ago for entertainment. He’s quite the crackpot.
I remember him going on at length about how handsome he was, telling us that women just fell for him everywhere, and then he said that this was more to do with his ultra-high intelligence rather than just his look.
You see the odd moron on here regurgitating his fiat currency lines, etc… they don’t seem to make the connection between that stuff and his desire to sell gold.
@ Hatuey June 18, 2019 at 12:13
Alex Jones was never my cup of tea, but he did help expose a lot of stuff the PTB would have preferred get as little coverage as possible. But his fiat currency attacks are right – that is just exactly what the Federal Reserve system is – a colossal scam.
But particularly of late, he spouts as his belly guides him. Not marking the latest ship ‘attacks’ as False Flags is just the last straw to his credibility.
Cracking article last week on The Terrifying World of Alex Jones.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/06/the-terrifying-world-of-alex-jones
“We’re never really clued into what Jones is alleging, but it’s certain that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Beto O’Rourke, the UN, EU, “elements of our own government,” “stay behind groups,” and others are attempting to “bring our country down.” It’s not clear why they’re doing this.”
Jones in 2016: “Hillary Clinton is an abject, psychopathic, demon from Hell that as soon as she gets into power is going to try to destroy the planet.”
That article was hilarious…
Alex Jones; “I saw Google got caught in a bunch of new stuff, and then when they talked to one of their presidents, they said “But we wear fluffy socks.” They’re like “What about Google getting hacked and all your passcodes being taken, and Google spying on people?” “We wear fluffy socks.” Almost every photo of Warren Buffett, a master wicked operative, involved with his banks with money laundering, narcotics trafficking, that’s in Bloomberg, AP, Reuters, but in almost every photo he goes “I’m just a little old man… Ice cream!” [Jones mimics holding up an ice cream cone.] … Google goes “I’m wearing a pink and a green sock and I’ve got a little beard and I talk like this [sotto voce] Do you know what those guys do when they get on jets? They go [demonic voice] BRING ME FIFTEEN HOOKERS AND GET THE DRUGS READY NOW AND TAKE ME TO THE PRIVATE ISLAND. GET THE SATANIC RITUALS READY. HURGGH.”
Millions of mentally fragile people, armed to the teeth, listening to this day in day out.
https://youtu.be/s6mn3MXe9Vw
Oh. My. God.
I need to save that.
@ Anthony June 18, 2019 at 12:25
Alex Jones is pretty discredited, but he has exposed important stuff in the past. He is right about Killary.
Check this video out (nothing to do with Alex Jones):
https://www.facebook.com/Killuminatisoldiers3/videos/1073512396080984/?v=1073512396080984
The couple (he has subsequently died) also authored two very informative books, ‘Access Denied’ being the best of the two, though they both cover much the same territory.
Alex is not having a happy time.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/18/sandy-hook-massacre-victim-father-wins-defamation-lawsuit
Thank you Craig! I’m losing the battle of being optimistic about our children’s and grand children’s future. And yes, your well-informed blog “Reveals the Ugliest of Prospects”.
Margarete, like you so am I feeling exceedingly pessimistic about the UK’s future and that of our young people. However, having worked and still do work with the younger generation they are not only as disempowered as you get but they have no interest in the state of their country. They do not have a clue about the corruption of the Assange issue, about Brexit, about the corruption of this Government, about how close this Government bought us to a hot war with the Skripal scenario, about the terrible, terrible consequences of being on Universal Credit, about the lack of affordable housing etc etc. They, as they say, ‘don’t get involved in that stuff’. Unless there is some sort of ‘Damascus moment’ among the young people, they are willingly, through ignorance, consigning themselves to a future of poverty, poor quality healthcare, poor quality education, lack of housing and more importantly, lack of jobs. In some ways, they deserve what they get.
It is an utterly depressing state of affairs – I completely agree. I have long been wondering about what kind of ” a public reaction against the political classes as strong as the situation demands ” – needs to be.
Clearly all the avenues to real democracy are guarded by people who are prepared to kill or destroy the lives of anyone who dare challenge them.
It appears to force the debate into a binary arguement.
Can we just not all agree between ourselves that all debt is cancelled everywhere and not to pay taxes to warmongering states ? this this would clearly need a mass movement of disobedience to pull off.
Perhaps something along the lines of what stopped the centuries of war between Athens and Sparta – is required. What if all women everywhere refused to have sex with their men until hostilities come to an end ? though of course in reality – it’s all our responsibility.
What kind of public reaction does the situation require – when it’s already so extreme – and clear that terrorists are running Westminster ?
Nice thoughts there Bill, how about it if unions could find a reason to unite and de politicise local Goverent by refusing to be lead by cllrs of all pol.persuasions?
By adopting a memorandum to serve the public directly, fairly and proportionally to the funding they receive from council tax and or Government support.
By sending politicians home and refrain from holding elections, replacing it with a direct democracy.
By being accountable for their actions and spending and by being in a continuous communication loop with those who seek answers to their causes, a direct way of delivering.
It would take some rigorous didcipline and self control which will have to be adhered and administered, without political interference or agenda.
One can but dream of solutions.
If I remember my history correctly, the was a French man Jean Jaurais (sp) who, before WW1 was advocating an international type of socialism. His reasoning went along the lines of the working common man in all countries have more in common with each other than they did with their leaders, so in the event of the priviledged leaders of country A started getting punchy with the dictator of country B or ruler of empire C, the working men and women in all countries should stand together and refuse to join their armies, refused to fight in wars to beneifit the priviledged, refused to make the guns and shells etc. He argued that the priviledged cannot fight wars without the manpower of the common man therefore if the common men refused to play the power games played by the leaders then there would be no war.
Idealistic I know, and he was assinated sat outside a cafe in Paris before WW1 started, so we’ll never know how thing might have been.
I have dredged this from the dark void of my growingly complicated memory, and am happy to be corrected by someone who knows more on the subject of this man
Thank you for this, very interesting – see Jean Jaures (with an accented e ) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Jaur%C3%A8s
Huw Manoid
it is a very sound idea, but yes, idealistic. Working men totally depend on their labour and this creates a very sensible point of pressure.
I have no doubt that the persons concerned will not fail to take advantage of labor blackmail, e.g. deprivation of bonuses in lighter cases or dismissal in more serious ones. The family will not be grateful to the worker for his political position.
It is necessary to unite the workers to carry out such an idea, for a mass joint action.
@ Huw Manoid June 18, 2019 at 13:28
I hadn’t heard of him, but that he would be assassinated makes sense, seeing as how certain very powerful forces were at work in France and Britain who were intent on forcing a war on Germany.
And his ideas were in reality admirable. Soon after WWi started, Brits and Germans made an impromptu cease-fire over Christmas, and even played football together.
I believe the troops were reprimanded by officers, and future such unofficial truces forbidden.
Very similar to recent events, where the government and MSM pump out daily demonisation against Russia, which may well lead to WWIII, yet a few months ago thousand of Brits went to Russia for the World Cup and got on fine. Though some of them sought high and low, even the most brainwashed were unable to bring back any evidence, even pictures, of horned and trident-tailed Russkis.
Bill Boggia, oh so true. What is wrong with the British public’ sleep walking into totalitarianism, poverty, corruption and brainwashing. I can’t believe what May and this Government have been allowed to get away with, let alone the corruption within it. No investigative journalism, the failure to report impartially and fairly, the failure to question serious Government lies such as Skripal, Iran now, Venezuela etc. I am glad I am on the wrong side of 60yrs but I am in total despair about the way the British Sheeples just follow where they are told to by a corrupt Government and MSM. However, the only hope I have is that the worm always turns in the end but by the time when the British people wake up from their sleep walking and brain washing, it will be too late. The only thing I will say, I was heartened by the British demonstrations against Trump. There is a glimmer of hope, just a shard of a glimmer.
Excellent article from Craig Murray, lambasting the MSM, but we should take heart from readers comments in the New York Times in response to an article by the NYT Editorial Board.
There were 473 of them before the Times closed the discussion, and we could not find a single one that is supportive of war or of U.S. efforts to continue pressure on Iran. So Bret Stephens gets to spur on a war in his Times column, but the paper’s readers are universally against the idea. Moreover, they hold the Times responsible and see through the equivocations in the editorial. Several point out that the press was the handmaiden of the Iraq disaster. https://mondoweiss.net/2019/06/readers-newspaper-abetting/#comments
The US plotting to stop Corbyn is not newsworthy and the idea of Israel doing the same thing not newsworthy either, apparently.
But a Russian aircraft flying through international airspace, well that is quite another matter:
“We were scrambled to intercept an Antonov AN-24 Russian military transport aircraft (Nato callsign ‘Coke’) that was flying in international airspace close to Estonia from the south,” the lead pilot from XI (Fighter) Squadron said.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/raf-russia-intercept-typhoon-fighter-jet-estonia-nato-baltic-airspace-a8953476.html#comments
«The US plotting to stop Corbyn is not newsworthy and the idea of Israel doing the same thing not newsworthy either, apparently.»
Since when is that news? It’s not even of the “dog bites man” level of news, more like “study shows that bears relieve themselves in woods” and “suspicions rise that the bishop of Rome maybe be catholic”. 🙂
@ Blissex June 18, 2019 at 18:21
The suspicions may be correct, but the correct question should surely be ‘is he a Christian’?
Very well said!
How on earth can you tell who is acting in that video?
What a load of nonsense!
Please sign the petition to help prevent war with Iran:
http://act.rootsaction.org/o/6503/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=220021
@ Tony June 18, 2019 at 14:01
Done.
Thank you.
‘It’s worth pointing out that unlike his detractors, Jeremy Corbyn opposed the military interventions against both Iraq and Libya. Yet despite his record of being proven right- consistently right- on matters of war and peace, it is he who is treated like the crackpot and not those who urged us to take part in wars of choice which caused enormous devastation and greatly boosted the cause of international terrorism’.
https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201906181075931638-jeremy-corbyn-iran-tanker-attack/
Crazy daze
‘As strong as the situation demands.’ I guess that’s diplomatic and politic. However you express it it remains my hope too. Thanks for your posts, always revealing.
This crisis of capitalism will be remembered for how quickly the PTB and its representatives simply and easily fell apart. Exemplified by Captain May’s premiership – wrong chart, no anchor, mutinous crew, scraping the rocks with a falling tide while beating off the lifeboat. Desperate and arrogant – thinking the bad dream could be ended by holding an election only for it to turn into a nightmare. The mutineers appear to have learnt nothing, offer nothing and present a seventy year old snake herder as the threat to the incalculable wealth they have bestowed on society. Shining a spotlight on JC to cast an existential dark shadow on the nervous and fearful. The PTB appear to have few responses when the money runs out – do just enough to keep a core of support, talk up fear and worse to come and unity through militarism. Oh yes, after ten years one big new idea – fibre broadband. Are the tories going to pay for this, and own it, for the nation? Nope, thought not, pay for your own shopping channel and state broadcaster license granny. Rather pathetically, for products of such expensive educations, one can see the adoption of Trumps (winning) style by the candidates in adopting bad manners, lies, personal attacks and throwing rocks into the night and running away. Which is very strange given the Tory demographic – are they lost and confused? Mustn’t miss Boris!
Your nautical metaphors reminded me of the tag line for this year’s Herzliya Conference about to start at the end of the month, where the Israeli PTB and others, including Sir John Jenkins, ex UK Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, assemble annually.
The tag line for the conference is ‘Navigating Stormy Waters – Time for a New Course’. How apt in the light of a recent event.
https://www.idc.ac.il/en/research/ips/pages/2019/hc2019-main.aspx
These are two of the themes in the Agenda. https://www.idc.ac.il/en/research/ips/pages/2019/agenda2019.aspx
« Iran – Putting the Genie Back in the Bottle
« Toppling the Iranian Regime Before It Goes Nuclear – Is It Possible?
One wonders just how many countries elections the Great Satan (USA) has interfered in, taking over the mantle from the now fading British empire.
The MSM are a loathesome bunch of acolytes forever prevaricating and fuelling the fires of discord around the globe, they should be outed at every turn on their reluctance to tell the truth.
The likes of Bannon, who has a pot of cash to set up far right groups in Europe to attempt to change the political feeling of Europeans towards immigrants is only adding more fuel to a racist driven fire that’s rampaging across Europe if not the world right now.
With the American & the Allies troublemaking around the edges of the European Union, many extra refugees have fled their lands to live in Europe, Germany has 600,000 people from Syria, as the World economy starts to implode because of Trump, when hundreds of thousands are put out of work in Germany, how will the refugees be viewed, Trump, although half German, seems to hate the German economy, he has said as much and more.
Trump understands exactly what the German economy is and he understands that he needs to confront it. Exactly why everyone else cannot see this is a mystery.
A glance at the quantum of German trade surpluses tells you that it is a mercantile power. A comparative analysis quickly confirms that it is the second largest mercantile power in the world.
Any numerate person knows that German membership of the euro depresses the value of its currency thus aiding its exports. This is currency manipulation at one remove. The people that suffer for this are Southern Europeans. German policy results in millions of unemployed people in Southern Europe and German arrogance tells Southern Europeans that Germany values migrants from unknown locations with unknown skills more highly than it values unemployed Southern Europeans.
Germany spends remarkably little on its own defense preferring instead the shelter of the Anglo-American defense umbrella.
Name one time in history that mercantilism has worked out well. It has to end, the only question is how. Trump offers the best hope of ending it as painlessly as possible.
“Any numerate person knows that German membership of the euro depresses the value of its currency thus aiding its exports”
Think that is the wrong way round. Having Germany in a currency will make it stronger, increasing its value. It is the presence of the PIGS in the Euro that depresses its value down, to the benefit of German exports.
I suspect that one of the reasons that Germany spends a smaller proportion of its GDP (still a large amount of money) on defence than other NATO members is that it has done a proper risk analysis and decided that the Russians are unlikely to attack them. It therefore decided to waste less money than the others, like us in the UK with our carriers and submarine deterrent and the farce of having Typhoons stationed in Estonia ‘intercepting’ Russian aircraft going about their lawful business in International airspace.
You use a lot of words in order to agree with me.
As you say the PIGS depresses the value of the euro. As Germany utilizes the Euro then the value of the German currency is lower than it would be if Germany operated its own currency.
@ Loony June 18, 2019 at 18:50
It was because Germany was a mercantile country, and was set on a course to overtake Britain, that Britain schemed with France, Russia, and Belgium to force WWI on the Kaiser, and to totally crush (not just defeat) Germany. Their success, and the Versaille ‘Treaty’, led inexorably to WWII, with US Banks and Corporations building Hitler up between the wars.
I don’t know why you blame mercantilism; everyone seems agreed that trade is good for all parties, but it should be on as level a playing field as possible, without forced concessions by powerful states.
Interesting that you choose to concentrate on an example where mercantilism worked out extremely badly. Thank you for re-enforcing my point.
“Any numerate person knows that German membership of the euro depresses the value of its currency thus aiding its exports. ”
Anybody who reads the press, numerate or not, knows that Germany always maintained a high value of the Deutschmark, and continues the same policy with the Euro. The people who don’t know that basic point are generally Brexiters with conspiracy theories about how Germany/EU are out to do us British down.
What you write is flat out false. There is no point in debating your contention as there would be in arguing with someone who claims that the world is flat.
The only question of relevance is whether you are so brainwashed as to actually believe the garbage that you write or whether you write this garbage for nefarious purposes.
Given that the British import far more than they export then in the short term German currency manipulation actually works to the benefit of the British. So what is the intended smear here? That the British are so congenitally stupid that they actually want to increase their import bills. The immediate losers in all of this are Southern Europeans – funny how the happy clappy liberals and paragons of virtue could not give a flying fuck about these people. Still carry on genuflecting before the alter of narcissism.
What I was attempting to speculate, is that more than a million refugees have come to Europe over the last decade, they were positively encouraged by Mutti to settle in Germany, now the German Economy is in trouble, the car industry is but one example, American interventions is another, how will the Syrians be treated, as hundreds of thousands of Ethnic Germans are put on the streets?
My guess is, there will be trouble coming to Germany soon, Mutti is leaving the stage.
^the empire is well, says Loony, lets just kick out a little and start another war to fetter the 1% on the back of hard workers toil.
Whilst some trade, strive to make well designed and engineered goods that are wanted for their quality all around the globalised world, other twitch at every move of their past mistakes coming to light, live of the proceeds of war and strife, whilst pretending that they are still a power because they have been allowed to have nuclear arms by their not so special relationship.
To declare that you want to be carbon neutral by 2050, and then proceed to go to war destroying everything with pollution high energy and years of contaminat6s, having to re-build at great energy costs and expense, is a bad case of self delusion.
Best to go and find a couch UK.
A reaction against the political classes is already well underway and has significant public support.
In the UK the reaction is Brexit and in the US the reaction is Trump. In the main both of these reactions are bitterly opposed by those who whine most loudly about war mongering, the persecution of their favorite dissidents and media lies. Interestingly these same people cheer the lies told that support their worldview and salivate over the persecution of the “wrong kind” of dissident.
No-one seems perturbed by the lies told by Comey, McCahe, Clapper, Brennan et al because those lies are intended to damage Donald Trump. No-one seems perturbed by Jeremy Corbyn electioneering in Peterborough in the company of a man who has served a jail sentence for electoral fraud – because after all the end must justify the means.
The bourgeois clerks seem incapable of understanding that the revolution eats itself, always and everywhere. No exceptions. Corbyn will be consumed by himself and idiots will assume that he has been hobbled by dark forces that have arisen somewhere on the Prairie.
Trump will be reelected by a landslide and dirty, unwashed, ignorant, racist and perpetually smeared British proletariat are girding their loins to withstand the retribution that will be exacted on them for their desire to ensure that the democratic will is enacted and that the UK exits from the EU.
Anyone that does not support Trump and Brexit are not opposing these twin phenomena but are in fact actively supporting the destruction of the free press, the persecution of anyone the state wished to persecute and are cheerleaders for pointless nihilistic wars anywhere, anyplace.
Not sure this is any consolation, but the future will either be full of people looking back at this time and thinking how mad it was, or we end up in some dystopian future of total fascism. Chipped, graded and monitored.Except for a certain few. Dissent will be crushed.
There is a storm brewing.
FYI, commenters karlof1 and Peter AU 1 offer a credible analysis of the dodgy video in this “Moon of Alabama” comments thread; it nicely and plausibly explains the many elements that do not correspond to the “limpet mine planting operation” scenario:
How Trump’s “Maximum Pressure” Campaign Against Iran Now Works Against Him
Their theory is presented and discussed throughout the long comments thread, but here’s the gist of it:
_____________________________________________________
What we’re shown is the very last crewman being guided onto/into the Iranian boat. On the bow are two Iranian crew, one reaching the tanker crewman, the other steadying the reacher’s legs against the sight motion of the ocean. Once the tanker crewman’s in the cockpit, the sitting Iranian crewman gets into the cockpit while the standing man remains standing, probably since he’s bilingual and capable of communicating instructions–a vital component even with easy rescues like this one. Everyone’s milling about in the bow because they just got there and want to ensure the safety of their shipmates. The poor resolution video was chosen because it hides numerous details. Plenty of time was available for photoshopping the limpet mine addition, which helped fool those watching the video.
karlof1 | Jun 16, 2019 6:51:53 PM | 76
Except the crew took to their lifeboat and were rescued by another merchant ship ten hours earlier.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/mideast-tanker-kokuka-idUKL8N23K1MD
I’d be interested to know why the ship, not sinking evidently, was abandoned entirely?
I’m more interested in how a 3″ ( Imperial ) round piece of metal can cause such devastation?
It was on the BBC so it must be a fact surely?
The Japanese crew talked of ” flying objects .”
Donald Trump believes that the F-35 really is invisible so why not trust the Security Forces?
Jeremy Hunt believes anything the Yanks tell him and Corbyn doesn’t.
@ Ken Kenn June 18, 2019 at 22:56
The old type radars pick them up easily, and China has just massively improved them, with a 250-mile safety zone off their coasts. The F35 ‘Flying Scrapheap’ just got a step nearer to a museum piece, second only as a colossal waste of money to the US’s new ‘supercarriers’.
@ remember kronstadt June 18, 2019 at 21:30
I suspect if you were crew on a tanker full of oil that was on fire, you’d want off too. Remember, just a spark in the right (or wrong) conditions can produce an almighty explosion and conflagration.
One of the frightening and disgraceful things about the way the Guardian has persecuted Assange, is the language employed by many of their journalists to describe Assange and his… ‘traits.’ The language employed is virtually identical to that used by leading Nazi propagandists to characterise ‘racial inferiors.’ Which was the first step, their dehunanisation, on the road to their extermination. I hope this is because they are incredibly stupid and ignorant, with zero historical knowledge. This is one of the problems with rhetoric employed without understanding. It’s very easy to get ‘carried away.’ That the journalists rather ‘fancy themselves’ as being very smart and skilful wordsmiths, makes this Nazificatiion of their texts… tragically ironic.
Clearly, they are ‘disgusted’ with Assange on all sorts of levels. Identifying him as almost ‘sub-human’ is part of this process of dehumanisation. This is a very dangerous road to go down, finding an individual or group one can smear and poor limitless venom onto, with a giggle and a nudge, has happened before with disasterous results to follow. It’s the mindless hysteria of the witch-hunt made flesh again. And this time in the pages of the liberal flagship, the Guardian!
Assange is seen, branded, as a person with close to unlimited personal defects. He is not unequivocally ‘good’ or even worthy of justice.
Assange has been judged by the media and found guilty, even before there was a real trial, or evidence presented in court, or in his case even charges! The journalists seem completely unaware or don’t care that this process in the media fundamentally undermines the rule of law and our most cherished democratic values, casually and with malice. The presumption of innocence isn”t a mere luxury, but something of vital importance that should be defended, not thrown away because one doesn’t like the individual who’s being accused of something.
It ‘s at times like these that one becomes aware of just how thin the veneer of civilisation really is, and how quickly what amounts to mob rule can take over.
Writeon, A sobering blog indeed. Never mind that these same newspapers made a lot of money by running the Wikileaks information and the journalists too made a lot of money. From what I can see from my own social life is that people seem to be pro Assange and his extradition to the USA is seen as something that could seriously backfire on this Government
writeon on June 18, 2019 at 19:39
said
“One of the frightening and disgraceful things about the way the Guardian has persecuted Assange, is the language employed by many of their journalists to describe Assange and his… ‘traits.’ The language employed is virtually identical to that used by leading Nazi propagandists to characterise ‘racial inferiors.’ Which was the first step, their dehumanisation, on the road to their extermination. I hope this is because they are incredibly stupid and ignorant, with zero historical knowledge.”
No it is not “…because they are incredibly stupid and ignorant, with zero historical knowledge.” it is just the reverse.They are fully aware that by serving the state they can become exceedingly wealthy. Judith Miller became a multi multi millionaire by acting as conduit for Bush’s criminal propaganda; the CIA has effectively unlimited funds and the fat pig Pompeo let slip the truth(well maybe not perhaps they are now so confident that they know that they can afford to brag) with his lie, cheat, and steal statement.
Mr. Assange holds a mirror up to them that they can’t stand to see. Deep down they know they are whores for power whether they admit it to themselves or not; watching someone like him lay it all on the line to do the job they have decided they can’t or won’t ever do reveals them as the pathetic creatures they are — thus their obvious discomfort.
Craig,
Excellent article, and I was particularly interested in your link to Matt Kennard (and the “stunning revelation of the way the Guardian has been taken over by the security services. “)
I recall when Chomsky was pressed to recommend “good printed newspapers”, he mentioned the New York Times (and others, including Der Spiegel). There were no UK newspapers on his list.
Kennard’s observations merely emphasise how far the Guardian has fallen.
Kind regards,
Scott
A decision from the Court of Appeal is due on Thursday on CAAT’s challenge to the continuance of UK arming the Saudis.
Leigh Day are CAAT’s solicitors.
Leigh Day
@LeighDay_Law
1 hour ago
Solicitor Rosa Curling, representing @CAATuk in its legal challenge of the government’s arms exports to Saudi Arabia, asks: “If arms can be exported legally in this scenario, then when could they not?” Court of Appeal decision due on Thursday.
https://twitter.com/LeighDay_Law/status/1141049940858118144
Guardian article by Arron Merat refers. Photos of Theresa May with MBS, a BAE Typhoon jet and an airstrike on Sanaa in Yemen within.
‘The Saudis couldn’t do it without us’: the UK’s true role in Yemen’s deadly war
Britain does not merely supply the bombs that fall on Yemen – it provides the personnel and expertise that keep the war going. But is the government breaking the law? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/18/the-saudis-couldnt-do-it-without-us-the-uks-true-role-in-yemens-deadly-war
We are also supplying the Hong Kong authorities with material such as CS gas canisters for crowd control. CAAT’s message quotes mealy mouthed Hunt.
‘Jeremy Hunt talks of the need to preserve Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms, yet the UK is actively assisting the suppression of these freedoms through its supply of tear gas and other anti-protest weapons.
The Government should immediately revoke all current export licences for such equipment as a first practical step to showing solidarity with the people of Hong Kong.’
CAAT: UK government approved the export of an unlimited quantity of crowd control equipment to Hong Kong
12 June 2019
https://www.caat.org.uk/media/press-releases/2019-06-12
Meanwhile,
US gears up for World War III with largest defense contract in history
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/06/13/pers-j13.html
I cannot believe this just keeps on going, is there not ANY nation that would raise up and protest the prospect of another world war? Seriously?!
@ Jack June 18, 2019 at 21:48
Exactly. Even East European and Balkan countries seem gung-ho for confrontation. And we mock lemmings (and ostriches)!
> This incident provides incontrovertible proof that the world does indeed operate in the way that I have been explaining here for a
> decade. It is not a “conspiracy theory” that democracy is manipulated by hidden powers, it is fact. […]
> Everybody should be incandescent at this, no matter who they vote for.
This is so true. Sadly, I am so weary of the world operating like this, that I don’t feel up to being incandescent. This is the worry, that we all become too exhausted and worn-out by relentless lies and war-mongering that we retreat psychologically.