Dominic Raab and numerous Tory MPs never showed the slightest concern when British bombs and missiles supplied to the United Arab Emirates killed thousands of Yemeni women and children. Those bombs and missiles were dropped and fired from British planes with British trained pilots, maintained by British engineers, and often acting in concert with British special forces secretly deployed in Yemen. The Tories roared all this on as excellent for British exports and the balance of payments. I am quite certain Dominic Raab could not name a single woman or child we have killed in Yemen.
But he knows the name of Princess Latifa because, well she is a Princess. The Royal Family of Dubai are close mates with our Royal Family and seen at all the best racecourses. They are good allies of the USA and Israel and can be depended on to fund the extermination of Shia minorities pretty well anywhere, which is helpful in keeping Iran weak (though Tories are less good at explaining just why Iran is viewed as our enemy, and the sponsors of 9/11, Al Qaeda, ISIS etc as our friends. We are simply meant to take that as read – indeed querying this doctrine brings massive mainstream derision).
I sincerely hope Princess Latifa is still alive and can be rescued. The difficulty is that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, he of the seven wives and innumerable concubines, has so many children that he can do away with a few and hardly notice. That this monstrous creature continues to be feted by London from the Palace and No. 10 down, really does give a very good indication of just how low the UK has fallen, and why it is time for the UK to end.
There are thousands of ordinary Emirati women whose oppression has been worse and lives have tragically often been cut shorter than that of Princess Latifa. This sudden concern for human rights has not extended very far “down” into them. The millions of imported workers, many from Pakistan, who have built and sustained the elite lifestyle of the shiny and soulless monstrosity for the rich that is modern Dubai, have never received any of the concern for Princess Latifa. They have toiled in conditions of slavery, died of unsafe construction practices, and thousands of female domestic workers have been subjected to what amounts to systemic mass rape by Dubai employers.
But then, none of them are Princesses.
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Who is Princess Latifa? Is she some singer, actor, comedian or general celeb?
And why would anyone care?
First time I heard the name of Princess Latifa in the very recent past, before reading the story, I genuinely assumed it was the daughter of Queen Latifah.
??? good to know I’m not the only one,
If it had been, I would have actually been concerned ??
If it had been Queen Latifa’s daughter, I mean
She wanted to live the life of a westerner, she tried to run away from her father and they picked her up and took her back I believe. Of course anyone would care about someone being imprisoned for their only crime of trying to live their life.
Never mind the safety and whereabouts of the young princess according to our own state broadcaster. It’s UK sport that might suffer.
YCNMIU.
What does Princess Latifa case mean for British sport?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56119788
BLiar also took money from the Saudis.
Tony Blair Institute confirms donations from Saudi Arabia
Non-profit founded by former PM lists donors in first set of accounts
https://www.ft.com/content/6426466c-b12c-11e8-99ca-68cf89602132
“… he of the seven wives and innumerable concubines, has so many children that he can do away with a few and hardly notice. “
Not to be confused with the current occupant of No 10 Downing Street.
…..or the other wayward Royal children – Harry and Meg – but …….there is hope Oprah will help heal that Royal family rift!
Royalties greatest weakness seems to be there own greedy, self centred & indulgent offspring(s).
There is not a greedier one among the whole lot of them than Her Majesty The Queen.
It does leave one a little bit confused as to what the word “majesty” really means.
???? A perfect summary of events.
When I read the story in the “news propaganda” – I had very similar thoughts.
Why is she so special amoung the many who are experiencing similar situations, but have far less money, power or influence?
The issue would seem to be more about her powerful & wealthy biological father than her well-heeled & pampered limits on freedom.
I doubt she is starving or wounded on a bombed out street corner in Yemen.
Well said. Those who criticise us for being critics of Israel would do well to remember that we are just as easily disgusted by the murderous actions of Arab states surrounding it or not far off. That doesn’t make us Islamophobes or anti-Semites. Quite the opposite. It makes us very much for the ordinary Jews and Muslims that unfortunately have to live under the inhumanity and extremism of leaders that are so chummy with capitalist Britain.
No-one who criticises critics of the zionist antisemite occupiers of Palestine is in good faith.
You’d be surprised how much ignorance there is Squeeth, so I would beg to differ. I know lots of decent people who’ve been conned. If we only had the bad-faith people to worry about, we probably wouldn’t be talking about this right now.
Yes, Marmite. You have actually pinpointed the most serious problem of all. Namely that intelligent, well-educated people of good will who consider themselves well informed are wrong about so many important issues.
Not just wrong through any personal weakness, of course. Wrong because of the insistent, continual, well-funded and highly coordinated efforts to disinform them.
However in such a situation the fundamental requirements of democracy are absent.
Nothing more to say, I agree one hundred percent, thank you.
Half Labour’s MPs also abstained on a motion to stop British bombs being dropped on Yemen. All the media’s favourite ones.
That highlights one of the worst aspects of the party system. Ideally, voters would elect MPs who can best represent their interests; and those MPs would vote on each issue as their knowledge and conscience prompt them.
Not according to the “party line” dictated by some wretched apparatchik.
Celebrity culture and shallow populist politicians like Raab, Hancock et al, indeed, nearly all the current cabinet – anything for a positive headline. And Labour, under the socially conservative, authoritarian by instinct, neoliberal Blairite, Sir Keir Starmer, are no better. We can only hope, enough of those disenchanted with Labour, the Tories and ultimately Westminster, vote Green, to put the skids under this FPTP derived two-party cosiness, a consensus that amounts to a conspiracy against true representative democracy.
The media isn’t any better. I missed it but saw it reported Andrew Marr introduced his show today with the line: ‘All the latest royal news and gossip from No.10’. Isn’t emphasis on that which is ‘news’ and that which is ‘gossip’ the wrong way round?
All votes are Tory votes under FPTP.
How can you possibly trust the greens after their attacks on Corbyn and Carolyn Lucas’s pathetic support of the Swinson woman and a fantasy Lib Dem coalition rather than support the man with the manifesto that was actually going to implement some of her policies?
They’re a combination of controlled opposition and barmy posh people
How can you possibly trust the greens after their attacks on Corbyn…
Indeed, and it’s unfortunate the Green party’s current leadership couldn’t see through the whole antisemitism smear ; telling leaving Labour members on twitter, to not bother coming over to join them post election. Just illustrates how pervasive and ingrained those largely press/media generated false perceptions of Corbyn’s Labour and the membership were at that time. Guess it really is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled.
The problem now being what to do. In England, we obviously don’t have the SNP and the Greens are still perceived as to the left of Labour – not difficult as Johnson and Sunak are probably to the left of Starmer’s Labour. If people sit on their hands, Starmer’s defenders can just cite low turnout; a vote for the Greens will be less easy to dismiss. The Starmer supportive careerist centrists in the PLP won’t take any notice of the membership leaving in their droves, but they will pay attention if another party starts taking chunks of the left-wing vote, as their vote wanes.
Speaking today Mon 22 Feb :
Keir Starmer opposes strike action by teachers…(over Covid safety fears)
How much longer before members wake up and this rogue is ousted?
Good to see that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) continues to make progress, with the Philippines being the latest to ratify.
The British government remains adamantly opposed but we have the power to change all that and create a world where we are not threatened with nuclear annihilation.
Please ask your MP to show his/her support for this important treaty using the contact facility below.
Many thanks.
https://cnd.eaction.org.uk/EDM1072/search
I doubt the departure of Scotland and Norn Irn will contribute appreciably to the current sad state of affairs. R-UK will likely thrash around all the more desperately attempting to regain an unobtainable “Imperial splendour”.
” The Tories roared all this on as excellent for British exports and the balance of payments.”
So, what’s new since Margaret Thatcher had tea with the butcher, General Pinochet?
The piece below says quite a lot about where the greatest concentration of warmongering and imperialism in the world actually is:-
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56345.htm
Although Princess Latifa, and her sister, are entitled to the same basic human rights and decent treatment as anyone else, in the real world, it simply does not happen. The poorer the Latifa, the worse the treatment. It is quite incredible how very rapidly your human and/or civil rights can be removed, with full sanction of the state, if you ‘step out of line’ or are in the way of an inconvenient trade deal or religious fervour or you just want a bit more freedom that the state wishes you to have.
We – as a state – are responsible for many, many civilian deaths and injuries, in the Middle East, for heinous crimes against humanity, but so long as a buck is a buck, we’ll go on making obeisance to Mammon while people die needlessly. I know it is in no way comparable – that is not my point and I would not insult Yemeni, or any Middle Eastern women by trying to claim it is so – but from little acorns great oaks grow – in both good and bad senses – and, as a woman right now in Scotland, in the liberal, democratic West, I see my human rights and civil rights disappearing before my eyes, courtesy of the pernicious and thuggish trans lobby which, like the UKG, pays lip service to equality while doing its utmost to destroy it. It appears to be bankrolled by Western governments and a number of big names in the corporate American A List.
We, the allies, enabled ISIS/Daesh in Iraq, Libya and Syria because we wanted access to their oil and other natural resources, and because we unleashed predatory capitalism on those countries without a thought to what the longer-term consequences would be – or, frankly, a care either. We actually bankrolled opposition groups in each of the three countries and created the hell that now exists – for us, as well, as we never know when the next bomb is going to go off, but we continue apace to weaken our society with unnecessary social upheavals that cause division. You might almost say we are heading for a societal collapse in the West through our own stupidity and cupidity.
The point I am making is this: no group’s or individual’s human/civil rights are expendable, high or low, sex or orientation, colour or creed, etc. Princess Latifa is as entitled to her freedom and rights as is poor Latifa in Yemen, and poor Latifa in Yemen is as entitled to her rights as relatively well-off Latifa in the UK. No one is safe in, or unscathed by, war and conflict and terrorism, but, always, women and children are proportionally more adversely affected in so many more ways. This is just fact, no bleating victim mentality.
Sometimes, the removal of human and civil rights takes place in ways that appear benign, justified even, but they are the thin end of the wedge. Sometimes, even in the relatively liberal and democratic West, in Scotland, in the UK, some women are more equal than others – some, with male bodies, are the Princess Latifas of this world, privileged from birth by dint of having been born male, but still discriminated against, while the others have always been discriminated against because of their femaleness.
We shouldn’t make distinctions between them; we should not take away the human rights and civil rights of ordinary women to give them to ‘special women’, and we shouldn’t assume that the Princess Latifas of this world are any more entitled than the poor Latifas of Yemen or the comparatively wealthy and comparative safe (by Yemeni standards) ordinary Latifas of Scotland. All females’ rights everywhere are always balanced on the head of a pin.
Wow very well said Lorna. A brilliant and powerful statement.
I remember the good old days when Scotland was still the envy of the world before the false experts entered the picture.
I remember too the ethos of being Scottish was that the Scots were the kindest, friendliest people going. We would go out of our way to help anyone. Treat us wrong however and you’ll see a different side to our character.
The power of social media has changed the Scots fundamentally into a shower of brainwashed, selfish zombies.
Facebook and Twitter etc have turned adults into spoiled brats and children into adults and the whole country into a mass of cults.
The sooner Scotland leads the world again and bans Facebook and Twitter and the rest of the wannabee Moonie Cults the better.
The likes of Wings Over Scotland and the other Pied Piper Wee Ginger Dug have also brainwashed a large part of the country as well.
Still the higher they climb, the further they fall. If you’re willing to be spoon fed bullshit, you’ve only one person to blame when you become sick.
I don’t care if you’re black, white, green, orange or f***ing candy-striped, I just hate bullies and they who dive to win a penalty with a passion.
Let’s be fair – the United States and United Kingdom enabled ISIS/Daesh, not because we wanted access to oil, but because we wanted to please Israel and Saudi Barbaria.
On the subject of inconsistency and selective outrage, the BBC’s and wider UK media’s obsession with Navalny’s treatment, while studiously avoiding all mention of Assange – as if he doesn’t exist – is pretty jarring.
ditto Salmond’s treatment.
I am equally concerned about the fate of Yulia Skripal, a Russian citizen who appears to have been disappeared by the British state.
Hypocrisy is the word is the meaning. The EU supports monarchies and military dictatorships everywhere. No question of sanctions on Israel. I really can’t see why Russia keeps putting up with Germany over this on off Nord Stream. Let them buy US L&G and walk away after full compensation. How many people know that Ukraine cut off water supply to Crimea, which actually comes from Russia ! There was a final hint that Russia might have reached the end of its patience, when Lavrov got wound up with that EU bloke that brought up Navalny.
That EU bloke being a Catalan ! You couldn’t make it up !
The UK’s craven pandering to wealthy autocracies is a given, the only disappointment I felt when reading the story was that India stooped to being a thug-for-hire for the Dubai, something usually the preserve of Pakistan.
Much could be said of the outrage on Jamal Khashoggi’s murder-cum-butchering. He happened to work for the Washington Post and be a fixture of Washington, but there is no such concern for the hundreds of thousands murdered by MBS in his transparent efforts to get martial cred on the cheap (that backfired so spectacularly, the Yemenis not being effete sybarites who hire mercenaries to do the heavy lifting, unlike the Saudis).
Fazal Majid. Exactly ! Why isn’t the EU sanctioning India for the Farmers ? And the arrest of independent media trying to cover the Farmers protests.
Very informative interview given on Grayzone of Vijay Prashed, who gives history of Burma and military and current situation in Myanmar. He also gives details of the Farmers strike in India.
Wiki features …the link –
TheGrayzone – Vijay Prashad explains Myanmar coup (YouTube, 23m 8s)
I suspect without firm evidence that the reason the press and the spooks expressed such shock and outrage over the murder of Khashoggi was because it was seen as a stick to beat Trump with. In fact, I would not be surprised if Trump either actively approved of the murder, or was informed and did nothing.
It’s not as if the US or UK press care about the murder of brown people all that much, and it’s not as if the CIA were squeamish about murder.
Don’t misunderstand – I am on your side. No, I am not a Trump supporter, either.
“I am quite certain Dominic Raab could not name a single woman or child we have killed in Yemen.”
This should read “I am quite certain Dominic Raab could not name a single woman or child he has killed in Yemen”.
Good points. However, many Scots also involved in building and piloting those planes etc so hardly a reason for breaking up the U.K.
I daresay there are, however an Independent Scotland would probably not have as a priority supplying arms to middle eastern despots, and therefore might show our English friends the error of their ways by example.
Key components of the Paveway laser guided bomb, currently being sold to the Saudis in considerable numbers, are made in Raytheon’s factory in Glenrothes.
I was wondering why UK news channels dropped everything else and made the disappearance of the princess, that most folk have never heard of their top news story. But then again if the UK establishment and the palace are tight with Al Maktoum, and I believe you that they are, then why are the news channels so interested in the princesses wellbeing.
The usual reason for that kind of fluff is misdirection.
There is something they don’t want people focussing on so they rake up some fluffy non-story that pulls at susceptible heart strings.
Our priorities as British people should be elsewhere, after all.
Maybe this:
High court judge rules [govt] failure to publish details of contracts within 30 days was transparency breach.
On a related matter, I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with Hancock’s neighbour winning a £30m covid contract after the normal tender process was put on hold by the Tories. Said neighbour is now under investigation but that shouldn’t concern anyone.
What’s that ? The Chicago outfit and Gambino family in New York were clearly doing it wrong.
Luckily Hancock and co have that Pillock of the establishment, Sir Keir Starmer, in their corner, to help sweep it under the carpet ; dismissing calls for Hancock to resign. Defending the establishment’s elite is what Sir Starmer does best.
The princess is not an insignificant story, nor a new one. It was a particularly gross way for an ally of the UK to behave, while expecting to be received by the Royals in a social context.
As for dropping other stories by the BBC, that’s completely another matter. Yes the Tories are doing that, but the princess is not an irrelevant minor story, only useful as a dead cat.
The worst thing is how ignorant western politicians and indeed the general populations are about the war in Yemen. The excellent blog piece (link below) was written shortly after Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal slaying. Everyone should read it to understand the origins of the war and lies told since.
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/gwynne-dyer/yemen-the-bigger-lie-138280
Whilst I understand the hypocrisy highlighted in your post does the publicising of Princess Latifa’s plight not help to shed light on the similar plights of others such as the ordinary Emirati women you reference? Even if there is a large helping of insincerity and sanctimoniousness in Raab’s actions does it not overall help in some way to bring publicity to it?
Very doubtful. For some reason, it is easy for the public to ignore the plight of the multitude. But a noble? Not a chance. The Tories have taken us over 800 years back into feudalist barbarism in just the last 8 years. Just look at the Prevent scheme that is now being reviewed by an ultra-right-wing Islamophobe, and going to become even more racist and bigoted than it already was, and only put gasoline on the hate that it claims to be against. Prevent is designed as a hate programme pure and simple. If Britain really cared about diminishing extremism, it would stop acting like an extremist itself.
Yes I am amazed that the prevent programme still exists. It in effect increases the suspicions and fears that intensify hatred.
Imagine the howls of protest if Prevent were investigating Zionist extremist activity in the UK.
It certainly exists, because some people are utterly obsessed, to the point of fanaticism. George Galloway was assaulted and put in hospital by one such fanatic. There are various people on twitter, some celebrities, who act in a deranged manner threatening to sue everyone into silence.
This is also my hope — people will think, “if he treats his own children this way, how does he treat other people?”. And people below the line in the DM are saying exactly this. Although of course it will all be forgotten after a while and we’ll be back to our photos of influencers at Dubai poolsides.
“I am quite certain Dominic Raab could not name a single woman or child we have killed in Yemen.”
Unless Wikileaks published the names of victims none of us know their names.
All you have to do , to become a surplus wife of an oil sheikh , is sign a paper that you agree to the arrangement, which one of my extended family once did. Arabic speakers are extremely expert in bending the letter of the Shariah.
But that is not the matter in hand. Nicola Sturgeon is not bending the letter of the Law by saying that men can self-define themselves as women, use Ladies toilets as equals by their self – definition and inhibit their testosterone with progesterone. She is changing the foundation of equality for Women, I.e.feminism.
Several Muslim countries have permitted women , within the confines of marriage, to participate equally in business , politics, medicine, social work , whatever. That may be unkind to women, to insist that they comply with societal norms in order to participate as equals in society. But the same Shariah rules apply to men.
Islamism , by contrast, and the wars in Yemen , Libya, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, etc are all wars of political Islam, havetorn up the Shariah by valuing the civilian populations, men , women or children as less than nothing. All of their rights as human beings are removed, in favour of the interests of the super rich and the super stupid Muslims that fight wars for them.
This is the opposite of Jihad and therefore imho, the opposite of Islam, returning the Muslim society to the status of cave men and women, long before the establishment of civil society. But as I say, that is not the immediate problem. Which is, the introduction of self- definition of the building blocks of society, I.e. human beings, and the destruction of the rules guiding them
If the English word for that is ‘woke’, then the same word would suffice for the rulers of Dubai, Saudi Arabia or Turkey. They have all re-defined the meaning of their Law , to suit their own , and Western Empire’s nefarious purposes. Please don’t allow the same stupidity to define Scotland. Independence without Freedom of Speech and conscience, but with personal definition of gender, is an appalling prospect.
It’s weird that the justice Minister is an Islamist , and the Islamist oil sheikhs are also sponsoring so.much destruction. Please Correct me if I’m wrong.
Missing princess sounds like a Star Wars sub-plot. When you see how UK regimes behave, you have to wonder why the sheeple carryon voting when the UK is a one-party state. I find it amusing that the Scottish witch preempts Boris on every Covid decision, a strange one that.
One can only hope these people selling these weapons, training these people and feting them will pay for their crimes one day real soon.
“really does give a very good indication of just how low the UK has fallen,”
Come off it Craig, no it doesn’t. It has always been like that. As General de G. put it ‘the state is a cold monster’.
What has changed is the access to information.
I just had a look online and it appears this story is already arsewipe. The latest article is now two days old, and Raab’s Chivalric defence of the benigted Princess, 5 days ago, did not so much involve him riding, Knightly clad, to her actual rescue, more like waving his sword about a bit, from a safe distance. News elswhere suggests the Emiratis have been having a look at some Russian…ahem, Defence equipment, and have also purchased 20k shots of the Sputnik V Russian vaccine to donate to Gaza. A bit of a slap now and again serves to remind the raghead Royals which side their bread’s buttered.
Remembering Raab’s uselessness in the Sacoolas case when he allowed her to leave the country to return to the US. Harry Dunn’s parents are still bereaved. Sacoolas should have been extradited.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/04/the-disgusting-lies-on-harry-dunns-death-must-stop/
PS Raab is married to Erika Rey, a Brazilian marketing executive who until 2020 worked for Google.
His Register of Interests
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=24815 Note the donation from the Arbuthnot Banking Group.
Gosh – I misread the PS and thought he was married to Erica Roe …..
Were those simpler days ? Or is it the wont of us older types to imagine them so. 😀
This article reminded me of this:
Death of a Princess is a British 1980 drama-documentary produced by ATV in cooperation with WGBH in the United States. The drama is based on the true story of Princess Mishaal, a young Saudi Arabian princess and her lover who had been publicly executed for adultery. Its depiction of the customs of Saudi Arabia led some Middle Eastern governments to oppose its broadcast under threat of damaging trade relations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Princess
It’s on YouTube in different versions, including the full 8-part series, I think.
One of modern Britain’s stellar cultural exports, the Premier League, has also been rendered farcical by Emirati oil and slave money.
Yes, I agree. However it is a regrettable fact that events which are not much reported quite simply “haven’t happened”.
Indeed it was only your own circumstances which brought publicity to the UK government’s complicity in torture. Now the world knows…
The plight of the princess has demonstrated the nature of the UAE…surely a good thing.