We Are The Bad Guys 373


In Murder in Samarkand I describe how as a British Ambassador, when I discovered the full extent of our complicity in torture in the War on Terror, I thought it must be a rogue operation and all I had to do was make ministers and senior officials aware and they would stop it.

When I was reprimanded and officially told that receipt of intelligence from torture in the “War on Terror” was approved from the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary down, and it became clear to me that there was a deliberate promoting of false intelligence narratives through torture which exaggerated the Al Qaida threat to justify military policy in Afghanistan and Central Asia, my worldview was severely shaken.

Somehow I mentally compartmentalised this as an aberration, due to overreaction to 9/11 and the unique narcissism and viciousness of Tony Blair. I did not lose faith in western democracy or the notion that the western powers, on the whole, were a positive force when contrasted with other powers.

It is a hard thing to lose the entire belief system in which you were brought up – probably particularly hard if like me, you had a very happy life right from childhood and were highly successful within the terms of the governmental system.

I have however now finally shed the last of my illusions and I am obliged to acknowledge that the system of which I am a part – call it “the West”, “liberal democracy”, “capitalism”, “neo-liberalism”, “neo-conservatism”, “Imperialism”, “the New World Order” – call it what you will in fact, it is a force for evil.

Gaza has been an important catalyst. I am not lacking in empathy, but my knowledge of the horrid butchery by the Western powers in Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya was an intellectual knowledge, not a lived experience.

Sirte, Libya, after Nato “liberation”.

Technology has brought us the Gaza genocide – which has so far killed fewer people than any of those earlier NATO member perpetrated massacres – in gut wrenching detail. I have just been looking at 75kg bags of mixed human meat handed over to relatives in lieu of an identifiable corpse, and am in shock.

That is not the worst we have seen in Gaza.

If only the people of Mosul and Fallujah had had modern mobile phone technology, what horrors we would know.

Incidentally, I tried to find you some images of the massive US destruction of Mosul and Fallujah in 2002‒4 and Google won’t give me any. It will, however, offer thousands of images from fighting there with ISIL in 2017. Which rather underlines my point about the extraordinary lack of imagery of the Second Iraq War.

Of the current genocide in Gaza, again I found myself naively thinking at some point this will stop. That Western politicians would not in fact countenance the total destruction of Gaza. That there would be a limit to the number of Palestinian civilian deaths they could accept, the number of UN facilities, schools and hospitals destroyed, the number of little children torn into shreds.

I thought that at some stage human decency must outweigh Zionist lobby cash.

But I was wrong.

The Ukrainian attack into Kursk also has a profound emotional resonance. The Battle of Kursk was arguably the most important blow struck against Nazi Germany, the largest tank battle in the history of the world by a wide margin.

The Ukrainian government has destroyed all the monuments to the Red Army which achieved this, and denigrates the Ukrainians who fought against fascism. By contrast, it honours the very substantial Ukrainian components of the Nazi forces, including but not limited to, the Galician Division and their leaders.

Kursk is therefore a place of great symbolism for Ukraine to attack now into Russia, including with German artillery and armour.

German politicians seem to have an atavistic urge to attack Russia, and support the genocide of Palestinians to an astonishing degree.

Germany has effectively ended all freedom of speech on Palestine, banning conferences of distinguished speakers and making pro-Palestinian speech illegal. Germany has intervened on Israel’s side in the genocide case before the ICJ, and intervened at the ICC to object to an arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

I do not know how many civilian dead would assuage German lust for the expiatory blood of Palestinians. 500,000? 1 Million? 2 Million?

Or perhaps 6 Million?

The West are not the good guys. Our so-called “democratic systems” give us no ability to vote for anybody who may get into power who does not support the genocide and imperialist foreign policy.

It is not an accident and it is not genius that makes a man-child like Elon Musk worth 100 billion dollars. The power structures of society are deliberately designed by those with wealth to promote massive concentration of wealth in favour of those who already have it, exploiting and disempowering the rest of society.

The rise of the multi-billionaires is not a fluke. It is a plan, and the misallocation of more than adequate resources is the cause of poverty. The attempt to shift blame onto the desperate constituents of waves of immigration forced into life by Western destruction of foreign countries, is also systematic.

There is no longer any free space for dissent in the media to oppose any of this.

We are the Bad Guys. We resist our own governing systems, or we are complicit.

In the United Kingdom it falls to the Celtic nations to try to break up the state which is a subordinate but important imperialist engine. The paths of resistance are various, depending where you are.

But find one and take one.

 

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373 thoughts on “We Are The Bad Guys

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  • David Goldfinch

    I wrote the following (which may be censored) in response to this article:

    https://skwawkbox.org/2024/08/17/foreign-office-diplomat-resigns-accusing-govt-of-complicity-in-gaza-genocide-full-letter/

    Sir Keir Starmer, ex-DPP and now our PM trumpeting ‘law & order’ and long jail sentences for people guilty of violent protest, is himself deeply implicated in far more serious international war crimes, including starvation, murdering journalists, rape, torture, ethnic cleansing, collective punishment and genocide in whole “or in part”.

    It is a matter of fact when asked in a radio interview broadcast to thousands about cutting off power and water to millions of Palestinian civilians he replied that “Israel does have that right” – only to backtrack, a privilege denied to the recent protestors, despite him being a ‘human rights’ lawyer who should know much better (let alone common sense). Clearly we DO have “two tier” policing in this cuntry: the powerful have a ‘get out of jail free’ card.

    https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/sir-keir-starmer-hamas-terrorism-israel-defend-itself/

    ‘Article II
    In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
    (a) Killing members of the group;
    (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
    (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part…

    Article III
    The following acts shall be punishable:
    (a) Genocide…
    (e) Complicity in genocide.

    Article IV
    Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals’

    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2023/11/activating-the-genocide-convention/

    Israel does not distinguish between “terrorists”, people who “support” terrorists, women who will give birth to terrorists and children who will become terrorists. It should know: the state was founded via years of widespread terrorism against Britain, murdering dozens of our troops prior to ‘Independence’ and using women and children in the process. (State of Terror: How Terrorism Created Modern Israel by Thomas Suarez)

    Zionists should be asked ‘if the situation in Gaza is NOT “genocide”, WTF else has to happen for it to become so???’ Exceptionally dangerous precedents are being set in ‘the rules based order’ in order not to offend a tiny but powerful, white, racist, rogue state and its rich and well-connected overseas lobby groups. (America would have gone batsh*t if we had behaved the same way in Northern Ireland as Israel is in Gaza. So much for our ‘special relationship’!)

    Keir Starmer is not the only one complicit in the UK. An entirely different class of people should be repopulating our jails.

    • Republicofscotland

      David Goldfinch.

      He’s certainly not the only one complicit – and other folk in public positions, are hosting the Israel’s ambassador to the UK, when Israel is committing genocide in Gaza – such as the Principal of Edinburgh University had a meeting with said diplomat days ago – also prominent figures in the SNP government – such as the Scottish FM John Swinney – and Angus Robertson; the latter is a good friend of Mossad agent Shai Masot who was exposed influencing politicians in the UK.

      Then we have SNP MSP John Mason – commenting on social media, that Israel ISN’T committing genocide in Gaza – when all the evidence clearly shows that it is.

    • Republicofscotland

      Yes, Juteman – I saw that, thanks anyway.

      As Angus Robertson – and SNP leader John Swinney, had a secret meeting with the UK’s Israeli ambassador a few days back; Robertson is a buddy of Mossad agent Shia Masot – the SNP MSPs, John Mason, let his mask slip.

      “JOHN Mason has had the whip withdrawn from him with “immediate effect”, the SNP has confirmed.

      It comes after the MSP published a series of posts on Twitter/X which appeared to deny that a genocide was taking place in Gaza.

      On Friday evening, Mason wrote: “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many.”
      In a separate tweet, he wrote: “There is no genocide. If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed many many more.”

      A spokesperson for the SNP’s chief whip confirmed that the whip had been withdrawn from Mason with “immediate effect”.

      https://archive.is/OyDW0#selection-1769.3-1797.121

  • Republicofscotland

    Apparently, Ukrainian and Russian diplomats – were due to head to Doha, in Qatar, to hold talks on NOT destroying each other infrastructure – especially electricity supply lines – and power stations – however the surprise attack on the Kursk region of Russia – have seen the coming talks abandoned.

    If its a very cold Winter – many Ukrainians and some Russians will suffer badly, we’ll just have to wait and see what Mother Nature brings for them in the Winter.

      • Republicofscotland

        JK redux.

        Thank you for that link – but I cannot access it without giving the WaPo my e-mail address, so I got some info on the matter – from somewhere else.

        Apparently the talks – had very little chance of success in the first place.

        “Senior officials in Kiev, however, were more skeptical about the negotiations, estimating their chance of success at 20% or less, the Washington Post said. After Russia decided to take time-out, the Ukrainian delegation reportedly wanted to go to Doha regardless, but Qatar refused, seeing no point in such a format of talks.”

        Incidentally – The last time Ukraine and Russia held peace talks – was in Istanbul in the spring of 2022. While the negotiations initially made progress, they later collapsed, with Moscow blaming the interference of then – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson – who allegedly advised Kiev to keep fighting. Johnson, of course denied the allegation.

          • Crispa

            Or rather the USA and Ukraine’s other international sponsors. Interesting chatter is of their wanting to get rid of Z. now that he is proving a liability to them. Replacement lined up. No reference to holding elections blah blah.

          • Republicofscotland

            Pears Morgaine.

            Going by your link – this appears just as big a sticking point – as the one you mentioned.

            But no matter – the Ukrainian incursions in to Kursk region, and not so well known Belgorod region – has changed everything; the incursion into Belgorod, hasn’t been reported on much by the Western media – probably because it was a disaster for the Ukrainian/Nato troops – in which they were repelled quickly, taking heavy casualties.

            “Russia agreed to much of Ukraine’s proposal but with key exceptions. It balked at the idea of other countries establishing a no-fly zone or providing Ukraine with weapons. Most important, Russia sought to insert a clause that would require all guarantor countries — including Russia itself — to agree on military intervention. The idea stands as perhaps the most intractable sticking point in the draft, rendering the security guarantees moot by allowing Russia to veto any international response.”

          • Urban Fox

            Actually, it’s the four oblasts, Crimea & no NATO/EU etc. At minimum.

            Ukraine’s desires don’t enter into it, they’re completely at the behest of their patrons for everything. Save press-ganged cannon fodder.

            Plus they’re losing the war anyway. At murderous cost, the lunge into Kursk didn’t capture anything worthwhile. Whilst being ruinous to logistically sustain.

            Meanwhile the Donbass front is steadily cracking, as the Russians haven’t eased the pressure. Yet the Ukrainians have burnt up/thinned out some of their better quality units.

          • Alyson

            These are the Russian speaking regions which the Ukrainian Nazis cut off funding to and shelled remorselessly after the 2014 US backed coup in Kiev. They voted to secede from Ukraine in 2020 and be independent and Russia offered support to secure their borders. Russia also provided infrastructure funding, but it was a trick to draw them into Ukraine to allow the West to get involved in retaliation.

            As Victoria Nuland said when it was all planned in 2013 “We regret the sacrifice of the Ukrainian people”

    • Brianfujisan

      Like Craig Tried to Tell Us – Scott – says –

      ” There can be no doubt that my UNSCOM archive did more than any other source of documented information to apprise the American people about the lies of their government when it came to Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

      And now it is gone.

      • Republicofscotland

        Brianfujisan.

        The likes of Scott Ritter – and for that matter Craig, and others who gather such important data – they should have an offsite backup source; so that when the police or security services raid their homes, they still have the very important information – that may have taken years, if not decades, to gather together.

        All truth seekers and truth tellers – should have a offsite backup, just in case.

        • Laguerre

          I presumed people like that would have an off-site backup (even I do, for fear of fire). I haven’t heard that Ritter has actually lost his data.

          • Republicofscotland

            Laguerre.

            Apologies – I should’ve linked to a thread, that showed just how much data was stolen from Mr Ritter – in the illegal raid of his home.

            A snippet.

            “The search warrant for Ritter’s home specified only electronic devices, of which he had three. Yet, the 40 F.B.I. agents there stole a truckload of materials from him, including his notes from his U.N. inspector years in the 2000s, a draft of a book he is in the midst of writing and some of his wife’s personal property.

            The invasion of Scott Ritter’s home was a perversion of the Fourth Amendment, a criminal theft of his private property and an effort to chill his free speech.”

            https://consortiumnews.com/2024/08/15/the-fbi-visits-scott-ritter/

          • Laguerre

            Evidently some of the documents seized were paper archives, to look at what is said, but the manuscript of his unfinished book I presume was electronic, and we haven’t actually heard that the FBI departed with the only copy. I mean, it’s not like the famous single copy of the manuscript of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, lost by T. E. Lawrence at Reading Station in 1921, and he had to reconstruct the text from memory. Anybody today keeps multiple copies of their book manuscript, at least I do, with a backup off-site.

        • AG

          “All truth seekers and truth tellers – should have a offsite backup, just in case.”

          Yep.

          It´s so otherworldly to experience the disappearance of history such as the WMD lie in Iraq which I have witnessed in Germany very intensly with protests and other things. Nothing was ever so beyond any doubt. Which is why millions of people went to the streets. And now – almost as if it were taken from that darn “1984” (it has been quoted way too many times) – we see how the history is buried or rewritten in real time.

          So yes, nothing, not even the safety of official online archives is guaranteed any more. We are back in ancient times when only hard copies ensured survival of records. Since you are absolutely exposed to the will of power. If power decides to destroy all online proof – they´ll do it. And nothing short of violent resistance will stop them. Treaties, agreements, deals, custom and practice – everything short of means of material enforcement has become worthless.

          …dark, real dark.

    • Barbara

      Scott likes them fresh – know what I mean? If you don’t, check his wiki entry. Simply put: no aged or ripe fruit will be found in his shopping basket! 😉

        • Bramble

          Obviously to continue a very stale old smear campaign, dating back to the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq on trumped up charges – typical of the West, which pretends to be the peak of human civilisation while throwing muck at anyone brave enough to expose the truth of its actual corruptness.

  • pete

    Today I learnt that polio had broken out in Gaza. Given the Zionist track record in the area I would not rule out the use of a biological weapon, whatever the cause I cannot see the Zionist allowing the ceasefire to bring vaccines into the region, it is more important than ever that the war criminals supporting the genocide in Gaza be brought to account, the international criminal court needs to get its act together.
    In other news I learn that a foreign office employee has resigned because they cannot reconcile their moral beliefs with the way the UK government sells arms to Israel, see:
    https://aoav.org.uk/2024/senior-british-diplomat-mark-smith-resigns-over-uks-arms-sales-to-israel/

    • Jules Orr

      Mark Smith, a senior civil servant who specialised in assessing arms exports to Israel, ended his 18-year career because he thinks the Foreign Office “may be complicit in war crimes”, and not a single national media outlet has reported it. They do not consider this even to be news let alone a massive scandal for which the Foreign Secretary, for starters, should resign.

      • Stevie Boy

        All very commendable but are we to assume that during the previous 18 years of his career that the foreign office was innocent of funding and supporting war crimes ? You don’t have to scratch the surface too deeply to find out where the UK has been exporting arms to. This has a feel of arse covering.

      • Urban Fox

        Bah, we should all know by now that such things make the news. Only if it happened in a “naughty” country.

        Or it serves some factional agenda within the regime, the propriety or public interest of the issue. Never enters into these calculations.

    • Jack

      Good for him, incredibly though how few people in power that have actually stepped down in protest, atleast what we know of, thousands of people are working for the UN for example but the only one I heard of having a moral conscience and heart by stepping down, is Craig Mokhiber.

      I do not understand why the nonwestern states are so incredibly silent too. Why are big players like Russia, China passive? They had so many chances to get back at the west considering how much the west are hawking and hurting them in every way with their soft power past couple of years. World need a real resistance to the western hegemony. South Africa is the only one in this conflict that have taken that couragous step. Where is everyone else?

      • Wilshire

        Correct. I fully agree with you. Few people in power retain basic moral principles, since power is a very addictive drug.
        I tried to raise your second point no later than yesterday, but to little success. The big players you mention have enough leverage to make the Gaza genocide a global issue, and through the UN or outside the UN demand adequate and immediate humanitarian assistance for the survivors. Easier said than done of course, but if nobody tries, then everybody is complicit. South Africa was extremely brave, so sad not many have followed suit.

      • Goose

        You can wager had he stood down claiming the FCDO wasn’t being supportive enough of Israel, his views would’ve gotten lots of press attention and coverage, he’d also be in high demand for TV interviews; no doubt asked to elaborate further on his concerns. The pro-Israel bias in our media is as unsubtle as it is warped given events in Gaza. The callous media / political disregard for Gazans’ lives, as Israel conducts its western-backed industrial scale slaughter, day after day, like deranged maniacs, has genuinely shocked many.

        Did you see Lammy’s recent bon ami schmoozing, in Israel? Laughing and joking with his Israeli and French counterparts, seriously: what’s so funny about 40,000+ dead from airstrikes? Airstrikes Gazans have no means of defending themselves against? Israel constantly uses the word ‘terrorists’ – but is not knowing if the building you’re sheltering in with your family will be next, not the definition of terror? Lammy them put out some tweet which prioritised hostage releases, showing where his sympathies lie.

        All of which kinda proves Craig’s point.

    • Peter Mo

      From a news angle the resignation is news. Just look at the previous coverage of diplomats resigning e.g Russian. There is something odd about the refusal of BBC, Guardian, Independent and other media to cover it. Clearly it’s a group decision, the reasons for which will be very interesting. No doubt our man Owen Jones will be on to it.

      • Alyson

        I think it is time for us to ask our elected representatives to declare whether they have a genetic link to Zionism which compromises their loyalty to Britain and the multicultural people who live here. Jewishness is defined through the mother’s genetic line.

        Sacrificing the Palestinian people is not acceptable. Racist supremacism is not acceptable. Sacrificing our nation’s peace to serve Israel is not acceptable. All racism is wrong. It is time to ask the forbidden questions

        • Pears Morgaine

          ” I think it is time for us to ask our elected representatives to declare whether they have a genetic link to Zionism ”

          Yes we could make them wear some kind of distinguishing badge, say a yellow star.

          Conflating Jewishness with Zionism again I think.

          • Alyson

            Fair point, but I am asking about a conflict of interest, Pears. Humanity or the Zionist extermination project, and whether a genetic connection determines which side has the loyalty of our elected representatives. Being glued to the shirttails of this monstrous aberration should be questionable, and open to analysis, rather than everyone being too fearful of vengeance to speak out in support of human rights, or humanity itself

          • Alyson

            So one last harping on: a county councillor has to declare a conflict of interest when funding that will benefit his community or his land is debated and he or she then abstains from voting as this would give the public money to his tribe. I am proposing that members of Parliament with Jewish family should abstain on any vote to give funding or arms to Israel.

            This should not be considered unreasonable. I will stop now.

  • AG

    btw “Judging Freedom” has been banned from YT for a week
    (this is so incredibly childish, like in the movies:
    “kiddo, you´re grounded for a week”!
    “I hate you Mum!”
    “Up to your room”)

    Mearsheimer sees it less humorously:

    “The Judge has been banned for a week from YouTube, apparently because a censor there was offended by what someone said on the show. We are in deep trouble!”

    Fortunately we got Rumble:
    https://rumble.com/v5b37dh-judgingfreedom.html

    p.s. Is it possible that Germany blocks Craig´s site from time to time or at least obstructs access?
    Indeed weird times at Ridgemont High…

    • Goose

      AG

      p.s. Is it possible that Germany blocks Craig´s site from time to time or at least obstructs access?

      First thing to do is find out which DNS server(s) you’re using: https://ipleak.net/

      I’m currently using Cloudflare, basically because I feel no urge to setup what I’ll describe below. I have certain doubts about Cloudflare, and I may soon set up a Local DNS resolver with DNSSEC.

      It’s possible your ISP might mess with DNS queries from time to time, but other ISPs don’t. After the recent discussion here on RT being blocked, I googled to check and I couldn’t return the IP address.

      There are uncensored DNS servers and any recent mid-tier consumer grade router will allow you to configure your DNS in the settings menu. Some DNS servers allow connection via port 443 (DNS over HTTPS) as a workaround, should ISPs starts messing with port 53 (DNS) or 853 (DNS over TLS) traffic. That’s the beauty of the web and tech community – they deplore censorship – and the internet, right from its DoD origins, was designed with redundancy in mind and to route around problems.

      A hosted VPS is your best bet (virtual private server – in a choice of countries) available for as little as €12 per year/ €1 per month. You just need to follow a few Linux instructions and be familiar with the command line; this allows you to set up WireGuard or OpenVPN – you’d resolve your queries on your VPS, by also setting up a resolver. They can’t port ban VPN traffic because UK and German business relies on VPNs, but even if they tried, you can again use TLS tunneling to obfuscate traffic.

    • Goose

      AG

      In the UK, our govt’s latest silly idea is to make expressing misogynistic and ‘harmful’ views online, a criminal offence on a par with terrorism.

      Are they going to ban rap music?

      And what about misandry? Surely, basic equality and ECHR compliance will demand they criminalise that too, if they choose to venture down this path.

      The Home Office and Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, haven’t thought this can of worms through, clearly. The Tory press and RW TV channels are already making hay.

  • Andrew F

    Craig,

    Stella Assange is speaking live in six hours at the “Rototom Sunsplash Social Forum” in Spain. It will be livestreamed on their YouTube.

    So obviously the family holiday away from everything includes live appearances at public events.

    Maybe Julian will pop in for a few quick words?

  • Meggs

    Craig,

    Stella Assange will be speaking live in about five hours at “Rototom Social Forum” in Spain, livestreamed on their YouTube channel.

    It’s great that the extended family holiday away from it all includes appearing live in a public forum.

    Maybe Julian will drop in for a quick chat?

  • Andrew F

    Sorry for double post about Assange, the first one went down the memory hole so I got my wife to try it again.

    Never mind, bears repeating anyway. Hope everyone tunes in live to see if Julian makes a cameo appearance!

  • Emilio Neto

    “Over half of subscriptions are now “suspended” by PayPal, which normally happens when your registered credit or debit card expires.”

    Dear Craig, why don’t you start a substack? Many dissidents have been publishing there, so far, without censorship and without this kind of problem. Subscribing is easy for readers and reportedly Substack only takes a small fee.

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