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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OMG, it seems the Musk-Trump gig might happen.
Mr “
RaceCivil war is inevitable” Musk or his office have twatted as follows:1. “Am going to do some system scaling tests tonight & tomorrow in advance of the conversation with @realDonaldTrump”.
2. “Live conversation on 𝕏 with @realDonaldTrump & me at 8pm ET tomorrow”.
That will be 1am tonight (Tue 13 Aug, 0100) British summer time.
The reference to “system scaling” might mean “Come and have a go at crashing Twat if you think you’re hard enough.”
That makes sense, given how Musk’s “self-driving cars” keep crashing.
Oh the entertainment.
Doing it live seems, shall we say, a hostage to fortune.
Technical issues are additional to the actors’ wisdom of never working on stage with children, animals, or deranged failed casino owners who boast about sexually assaulting women and think they’re the Chosen One.
If only we could blame Trump for the genocide, everything would be cosy and normal and the article above could be ridiculed and dismissed.
A Marxist understanding of capital as self-expanding value is necessary to get a handle on how
1. there is a dynamic of capitalism and unified ruling class power
AND at the same time
2. capitalism is based on competition.
Such an understanding is very concrete (the hell with academics!) and it gives an excellent viewpoint from which to understand war.
In the words of the old anarchist slogan, war is the health of the state.
(Note: this excellent slogan has been used by revolutionary anarchists for many decades. I have just learnt it was first stated by Randolph Silliman Bourne, whom I shall have to read about.)
A Marxist understanding of capital also leads to a conclusion that’s rather different from the idea that Celtic nationalism (or any other kind of nationalism) shows the way forward. Which is not to say that ranting on about “workers” or even “proletarians” is the sensible thing to do right now. (This pains me to admit. Nonetheless it must be admitted.)
Musk may well be competing with the interests that run Google. If that is so, he will lose. Or he may just be negotiating his price. That is the background for today’s Musk-Trump gig if it happens. Anyone who believes otherwise should start by observing that the gig isn’t being first broadcast on Youtube.
But in either case, the key centre for the “everything app” or the “super-app” isn’t in Silicon Valley at all. It isn’t even in the US or “the West”. It’s in China.
It seems to me that Donald Trump, who in the Musk-Trump relationship has definitely been assigned the stupid c*** role, may soon be chucked to the wolves.
That could leave not Kamala Harris but Nikki Haley to take over the White House. “Finish them!” being Haley’s message to the Zionists regarding the Palestinians in Gaza – not metaphorically but literally. Now that’s what I call a loyal servant. “Finish them” means genocide. There are no two ways about it. Genocide is WRONG. If we had a popular front against genocide, that would be a big step forward from what we have got.
It’s Soul destroying Craig..
And yet a State committing Genocide is allowed into the Olympics.. When Russia was Instantly band.
I wonder if all this Evil would be allowed if we had a Just, and Honest Media.
There are some footage Clips I just can’t watch..Others I come upon.. As you say It’s all Filmed now.. Heartbreaking, The Evil of It..
Shared on F.Book.
The Germans are just embarrassed they got humped by the Russians during WW2. Then became a cuck vassal state of the USA with no military power.
Now even their economy is rotting etc. They can’t do anything themselves, but they can encourage Ukraine to Paraguay itself & Israel to commit mass-murder.
It’s all a strange from of belligerent, servile cowardice.
Yes. And Not Forgetting the US Declared War on Germany when they Blew up the Pipelines. Silence from Germany on that
Good article. Thanks to technology the West is being exposed as never before, which I’m sure is the real reason why there is now such a big push to suppress and erase counter-hegemonic voices online.
Taking of erasing, the Germans genuinely seem to believe they can erase the Holocaust from history and memory if they can help Netanyahu murder a couple of million Palestinians.
Another good article on the impact of Gaza on the good guys’ civilisation appeared this weekend:
“Thanks to Gaza, European philosophy has been exposed as ethically bankrupt”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/war-gaza-european-philosophy-ethically-bankrupt-exposed
I’m am sticking to direct payment to bank account. Giving the middlemen a cut or even power over the transfer of money is dangerous.
Perhaps a new fangled fintech type account might help – Revolut or something where transfer is instantaneous between users.
The mythical super hero genius is pure Hollywood – it’s not just the boy wonders from Gates onwards – wholly creation of his Mother, odd how many of them are mummy boys. Musk and the Palantir squillionqire via their PayPal Derpa tech included.
Whitney Webb and Caitlin Johnstone are brilliant on what’s going on with these Nazgûl.
Musk is a blood thirsty ziofascist, with apartheid racism running through his veins; his obnoxious recent tweets over the weekend stocking the incitement in the U.K. speak for themselves – he clearly sides with ‘Tommy’ the ziofascist Mossad /MI5 tool.
Starmer is the New Blair – who waited for Bush Jnr to be part of the Gang that launched the MENA war having sent natzo to bomb Serbia. A target that is curiously at the centre of much European history. The Slavic border land, wholly European – peoples going back to Roman days, many a Caesar came from there!
Trump or the Harridan doesn’t matter – Caitlin explains better – they are charging us into the valley of death.
All the Western Narratives that lay authoritative claims on knowledge and what and how humanity should progress especially in our population size – is rank lies.
Even as they cook up new laws and plan another pandemic a bigger wider war that cover the extermination of billions of peoples over the next decade appears to still be their Plan A. Developed by fascists over a century ago and capture of science and technology through patents, academia, state departments media and entertainment – the Industrial Complexes
The Resistance launched a minor attack on the Glorious Twelfth on the Ziofascist lands last night. That is just another cut in the thousand that is felling the Empire!
The fight is on. Pick your sides. There will be persecution and it will lead to insurrection.
In the end Humanity, Collective, multipolar will win by sheer fact of numbers.
Unipolar will be ancient ruins and some cultural artifects, such as English, that will be visited o future centuries.
Better late than never. Note, if the UK are the bad guys, so are the Ukrainians and by inference, the Russians are the good guys. My family is partly from Mordor, and my mother-in-law said in 2014 when the US changed the government in Kiev that there would be a war. At that stage, I wasn’t as sure as she was, but by 2020, I thought she was 100% right.
Re: ‘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.’
There wasn’t massive destruction in Mosul in 2004 because the battle was over in a week. In contrast, the 2016-17 Battle of Mosul lasted nine months and resulted in coalition forces levelling the place, with around 10,000 civilians being killed. There was considerable destruction at the two Battles of Fallujah in 2004, but only around a thousand civilians were killed because non-combatants were ordered to evacuate by the insurgents beforehand.
Despite what the official figures state, far more (non-insurgent) civilians have been directly killed in Iraq & Syria by coalition forces involved in Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS (of which the 2016-17 Battle of Mosul was part), than in the entirety of the 2003-11 Iraq War. In terms of direct civilian deaths, it’s the worst thing the Western powers have done since the Vietnam War, but hardly anyone cares because people just assume that most of the civilians killed were ISIS terrorists.
Lapsed Agnostic.
Apparently – this is the destruction.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=destruction+of+Mosul+and+Fallujah&FORM=HDRSC3
Thanks for your reply RoS. As far as I can see, those images are all from the 2016-17 Battle of Mosul (in which, as I stated, Mosul was essentially levelled by the coalition) and the Second & Third Battles of Fallujah (the latter taking place in 2016 against ISIS). I could also link to pictures of Mariupol in June 2022 – a city in which over 20,000 civilians were killed according to its mayor – though, according to our host, that situation is not a case of straightforward evil, but is ‘massively complicated’. Worth also mentioning that the 2011 NATO bombing of Libya was authorised by the Security Council, and the highest estimate of civilian deaths (per Airwars) is 400:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_military_intervention_in_Libya
Why so transparently lie? The UN Security Council authorised an “no-fly-zone” over Libya (UNSCR 1973), everything that followed was entirely illegal, but NATO used UNSCR 1973 as a fig leaf. 400 dead is a joke, it collapsed the entire society. Millions died or were displaced.
Thanks for your reply Steven. I’m not lying. As well as a no-fly zone, UN Security Council Resolution 1973 authorised all means necessary to protect civilians in Libya short of an occupation force. The NATO bombing campaign was mainly against military targets, though obviously some civilians were caught up in it. It’s estimated that around 30,000 people died in the First Libyan Civil War (approx. two-thirds civilians), the vast majority not due to the bombing. Far fewer than millions were displaced – at the time, there were only around 6 million people in the entire country.
Take a look at the population growth chart for Libya:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=population+of+libya
In 2010 the population was 6.492M, extrapolating the growth rate until 2012 the population should have been ~7M. In fact the official population fell to 5.87M. How do you account for this? I can concede it was between 1-2M. Did NATO succeed in protecting the civilian population? Did it intend to?
Thanks for your reply Steven and for the link. I’d like to see a proper source for the data (the caption just states that ‘sources include World Bank’) – I doubt that any censuses were taken during the first Libyan Civil War. However, even going by those figures, the population in 2012 was only around 900,000 less than what it would have been by extrapolation of the growth rate from 2009-2010. (I can go through the maths if you want). That still means that around a quarter of all the people in Western Libya, where support for Gaddafi was strongest, fled abroad or died – which seems very unlikely. NATO probably succeeded in protecting much of the population in Eastern Libya from Gaddafi’s forces.
Enjoy the weekend.
Craig’s article is flawed where he attributes to complicity of the U S led western states in the Gaza genocide to ‘Zionist lobby cash’.
The dollars and the bombs and the RAF surveillance capabilities are provided to the Israeli regime because if functions as a loyal and reliable ally, including military ally, in the Middle East whose importance ultimately depends on safeguarding the flow of corporate oil profits westward from the region.
That is what explains the support offered the Zionist project first by the British imperialist superpower and then by the U S as British power waned after 1945.
Thanks Craig.
Yes we are the baddies.
https://youtu.be/ToKcmnrE5oY?si=KO5HsHjLVWaiqPdF – Mitchell and Webb: “Are we the baddies?”
Old (modest) subscription cancelled, new slightly better new one set-up, please keep up the good work.
Nick
Well, yes. On objective measures, if you value human and non-human life, NATO is surely the greatest evil the world has ever produced (amid stiff competition). I studied politics decades ago, and the problem (explained by one of my tutors) is that while state crimes were often well-understood by researchers and scholars, they were typically confined to narrow-circulation academic press (or activist outlets) and subject to state, institution and self-censorship. Some of those filters have been temporarily dropped like scales from eyes. When I tried explaining these things I’d learnt, I was largely ridiculed or called ‘anti-American’ (as if that was socially unacceptable for a Scot). But there is such a buy-in to USAmerican culture here, as if the Culture Victory in the Civilization games is a real thing (wearing their blue jeans and drinking their Coke and emulating their gangsters).
Not sure of the validity of this item, but it seems possible given the current state of the world.
Putin assassination attempt by NATO and pals.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/nato-neo-nazi-junta-nearly-blew-world/5864918
If the buggers couldn’t even assassinate ol’ Trump, I’d say they were being decidedly optimistic thinking they could nab Putin.
Calling someone “anti-American” for being anti the USA is what deserves ridicule.
Two out of three Americans don’t live in the USA.
Only about 1 in 7 of the population of that shitty country between Canada and Mexico can even speak America’s most widely spoken language.
The USA has no cuisine of its own.
The USA is one of the few countries in the world from which many people, when you ask them where they are from, will say the region (“state”, in local parlance) rather than the country, because for many of the poor souls their country might as well be the locus of everything that happens in the world that they think is important.
Welcome to the real world. All those conspiracy theories are coming true …
Re. “it falls to the Celtic nations to try to break up the state”. Good luck with that one, their governments are all on board with the genocide, and Scotlands independence dream is just that. The pull of the gravy train is too strong for the corrupt pigs.
No change in our lifetimes I’m afraid.
ps. for anyone interested, Robert Fisk has a new book out “Night of Power: The Betrayal of the Middle East”
The great Robert Fisk is dead, it is probably a rehash from previous books.
Fisk died November 2020. This book has a publication date of July 4th just and looks as if it is last book, which deals a lot with the conflict in Syria, not quite finished at the time of his sudden death and published posthumously.
Thanks to the above for the alert for some compulsive reading. To pick out a sentence referring to the civil war. “There were bad guys among the good guys and good guys among the bad”. Perhaps that still applies but who is good and who is bad amongst this current lot?
Originally published in 2000 so nearly a quarter of a century old and well out of date.
Yip – the West are indeed the bad guys – the West invades and regime changes, under the guise of bringing freedom and democracy to countries – we then murder, and class anyone who stands up against this as terrorists – we then go onto pillage the countries resources and set up military bases, which are approved by the puppet leader we have installed as its leader.
As for Gaza – we’ve all seen terrible Israeli atrocities committed, online, such as pregnant women blown up and children killed by IOF snipers – even a man in coma in hospital murdered whilst unconscious.
The US, UK, Germany and several other nations condemn such attacks but that’s it – its all talk and no action – Israel has been murdering the oppressed Palestinian people for decades – and still Israel get to participate in the likes of the Eurovison Song Contest, the Olympics and European football tournaments – not to mention football’s World Cup qualifiers.
No warrant has been issued for the likes of Netanyahu or Gallant – yet the ICJ was quick to issue one for Putin.
As I’ve said on countless occasions the only way the Zionists genocide will be stopped is by force.
“The US, UK, Germany .. condemn such attacks”
Source needed.
Jules Orr.
“WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) – The White House said it was “deeply concerned” about an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza City school compound on Saturday that local civil defence officials say killed around 100 people, adding to condemnation of the attack from several Arab states, Turkey, Britain and the European Union’s foreign policy chief.”
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-deeply-concerned-about-deadly-israeli-strike-gaza-school-refuge-2024-08-10/
Of course – as I said in my comment above – its all just talk and no action – basically its for the benefit of the wider world audience who are watching the genocide unfold – to make them think that these countries are concerned for the wellbeing of Palestinians, when that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The problem is news reporting: It´s not there. The item pops up once and then it´s gone forever.
The torture report by B´Tselem from last week was almost entirely ignored in a country of 80 mn people (Germany) even though it describes the conditions of 10,000 prisoners since Oct. 7th. People whose treatment is unimaginably worse than that of the hostages in the hands of Hamas, by Hamas. I don´t watch TV. I would break it otherwise throwing it out of the window. The level of lying is so monumental and insulting soon one year into this massacre. A school bombed, 100 killed. Who gives a fuck lets rather report on the Paralympics. (Actually Ukrainian reporters should be doing that…)
“the western powers, on the whole, were a positive force when contrasted with other powers.”
My God, how were the bloodbaths in Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia interpreted in the British Foreign Office? The endless anti-democratic coups from Iran, Brazil, Chile, to even Australia? What on earth were you contrasting this favourably with before 2023?
Under the control of the US during the cold war, I’d say. There is an Australian diplomat retired, Tony Kevin, who was posted to Moscow in the late 60’s – book – Return to Moscow. He is on twitter but quiet. He seems to have figured out what has been going on a long time ago. He says that any interaction with ordinary Russians or Russian diplomats was VERY controlled and that the US in Moscow seemed to have called the shots.
That’s interesting… digging in to Soviet history recently, Kruschev seemed very much to be putting pieces in place upon which the re-writing of Soviet History, to align with what Western propaganda claimed, a generation or two later would depend … had me concluding that was likely the case.
The whole story that we were terrible at infiltrating/influencing Soviet power structures/events, etc, or that the Soviets were much better, is likely convenient myth.
We are unlikely to ever be allowed to know the “successes”, however, as intelligence chiefs have been known to lament.
I remember when Khruschev went to the UN in the 1950s and I was following it on the radio. Harold MacMillan made a speech which Khruschev interrupted and MacMillian said cheerfully “I’d like that translated”. The local newspaper next day picking up the incident from one of the wire services reported MacMillan as saying “he needs a translator”. The misrepresentation to me as an about twelve year old was very blatant propaganda and I remember being furious but of course being unable to do anything.
Interestingly, all the European/Soviet flights to North America in those days refuelled in Gander, Newfoundland. The old timers who worked at the airport tell of the diplomats/world leaders/ etc. they met and how friendly the Soviets always were. They had signed photographs etc. of all kinds of people.
How dare you, Craig? People of the Western Culture represent the best of the mankind, the only hope of humanity to survive. Europe is an idyllic garden of prosperity and the rest of the world as mostly a jungle. It is the best combination of political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion that the humankind has been able to build – the three things together.
“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.”
US-made bombs – weighing over 2000lbs each – were used in the attack.
“The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in its report on Sunday that the investigations show no proof or indication of any military operations or combatants at the Tabaeen School in Gaza City’s Al-Daraj neighborhood.
According to the rights group, based on the statements and testimonies provided by witnesses and survivors and field surveys of the location following the attack, there were no military gatherings or centers at the school, and it was never used for any military objectives.”
Israeli states that anyone and everyone in Gaza is a terrorist: men, woman and children. Therefore it’s perfectly okay to kill them, rape them, torture them. No justification is needed.
The Israelis are quiet clear with what they are doing. It’s the hypocrits in the west who have to perform the moral gymnastics to justify the evil to themselves and their audiences.
@Stevie Boy, I think it’s worse than that. Israeli authorities appear to take the position that it is the moral duty of Israelis to kill, rape and torture every Palestinian man, woman and child in Gaza (it’s supposed to be the most moral army in the world), which is why they are trying to force non-enlisting Haredim to join in.
Since the beginning of Zionism there has never been a time when the Zionists did not intend the eventual riddance of all Palestinians from areas under their control but until October 7 2023 the implementation was assumed to be somewhat in the future but now with October 7 providing an excuse Israelis are committed to their Final Solution to The Palestinian Question. The deaths of civilians are not “collateral damage they are the desired results. The IECF (Israeli Ethnic Cleansing Force aka IDF) can always claim that hiding among the dead civilians were enough Hamas to bring the collateral damage down to the acceptable 20 to 1 ratio. Initially the death count was going up following a straight line but when it reached about 28,000 the line flattened out.
The true death toll is concealed because the hospital morgues to which bodies are brought for counting no longer exist and I have no doubt any group of Palestinians attempting to label and count bodies in the open would find a bomb or rocket landing in their midst. So the rest of the world feels comfortable with a modest count of under 40,000 but the true count is probably nearer 200,000. I suspect that the West will not realize the extent of the purge of living Gazans until the last is gone. As in the case of the German holocaust noone will be punished until it is over and then only a few scapegoats.
“[Israel] states that anyone and everyone in Gaza is a terrorist: men, woman and children”.
Well, they are Gentiles – which to a Zionist comes to the same thing. See https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/08/skin-in-the-game/comment-page-2/#comment-1065858
For myself, I think that the West is moving in the right direction; as news of the killing in Gaza and oppression in Palestine becomes widespread, pressure to restrict the arms supply to Israel grows and appears to be having an effect.
The West as a whole may be as divided in its own way as the American Jewish community in its own way; see the Al Jazeera interview by Neave Barker of Erin Axelman and Simone Zimmerman (on Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi6vpLPKnk0).
In Germany there are human rights organisations who should find solutions special to that country.
So I don’t see the West as hopeless in the long term.
You’re right. It’s not just genocide in the broad sense of the word. It’s deliberate extermination of Gaza’s population.
Thank you for this article Craig. I fully understand and agree. My initial reaction to 9/11 was that the Israelis were behind it. I was probably wrong but I’m sure it was staged. I was looking up the nature of psychopathy in wiks – makes interesting reading. There are other personality traits – narcissism (as you pointed out Tony Blair), Machiavellianism. Makes interesting if not depressing reading on a beautiful summers day. In my view, and I expect lots follow the same, is that Israel does not have a right to exist in the modern world. It has long lost any credence of statehood. I am not blind to the appalling behaviour towards our indigenous peoples in Canada – the Indian Act was probably the blueprint for the Nuremberg laws. How do we change things though? It looks as if arch zionist Pierre Poiievre and his conservatives will win the next election. The only party which has stood against the Gaza genocide is the NDP but I doubt they will win. In the US, the only sensible person is Jill Stein but she will be lucky to get 5% of the vote (Jill Stein is Jewish and not a zionist). As for Kursk, I’d say that was a nato attack, lots of different languages being reported and from where did Ukraine suddenly come up with 10K extra troops. They are having a hard time finding recruits and their front line personnel are dying in large numbers. Very, very stupid of nato and we are lucky the Russians are such a sane, together nation who have a good understanding of what is wrong with the west and won’t hopefully land us all in WW3. I’m hoping Ukraine will very soon just collapse, the Americans are totally consumed with their stupid election, and Europe is finding it cannot live without Russia’s help ie oil and gas, etc and will come to its senses – maybe revolution! or kick the Americans out. There is a better world out there for everyone, we just have to watch the west collapse meanwhile.
Re. “9/11 was that the Israelis were behind it.” Don’t forget an honourable mention for the CIA, the enablers. And, don’t forget that JFK was looking to clamp down on Israeli activities – that worked out well !
Now:
‘The US will “get a re-run of 9-11” if it doesn’t fight Israel’s wars with Iran and its allies, according to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.’
https://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/2024/08/former-israeli-pm-threatens-u-s-will-get-a-re-run-of-9-11-if-it-doesnt-fight-israels-wars/
This can be taken two ways, however …
I often think that the so called Democracies are not doing these things to defend ‘ Democracy ‘ but simply just out of fear of what the US will do to them should they step out of line.
We have the dominant dollar.
The US run ( French based ) Swift System for payments across the ‘ Civilised World ‘
The US makes the majority of armaments for Democracies to fight their enemies in the world.
Most billionaires ( never read of a Commie one ) are in charge of the Monopoly Media which most people see.
The US is in charge of where the oil/gas goes and to whom.
Plus the US form of Diplomacy is backed up by the biggest Military in the world.
Basically democracy by threat and violence ( called terrorism by the same country).
The meaningless phrase trotted out by Liberal Democracies ‘ The Rules Based International Order ‘ is not international in any sense as these are US Rules based orders solely.
There is no Free Market – only Monopolies.
Quite an Arsenal of threats there.
So, not surprising that the EU the UK and others never step out of line because they will be next if the don’t play the game.
Fortunately all is not lost as the BRICS countries and the rest of the Real World ( i.e. non Western Countries ) have decide to walk off very slowly away from their prison Guards and are getting on with doing real things.
They do not have the dead weight of Empire and the attempts to keep hold of it and they can literally smell the West’s desperation in all the lunacy we see before our very eyes.
It will take time and will not all happen at once but happen it will as it’s a bit like Hemingway describing in The Sun Also Rises
“How did you go bankrupt?”
Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
The more sudden (terrible grammar but it fits ) the better for myself.
” 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.”
Which is doubly surprising because the US took almost no part in the defeat of ISIL by Syria and Hezbollah with support from Iran, Russia, and bits of Iraq.
I find one can sort of follow Canadian foreign policy by watching how CBC reports events in places like Gaza and Ukraine. The genocide in Gaza is reported, I think, pretty well and accurately and sympathetically over the last number of months. It wasn’t in the beginning after Hamas jumped over the fence. Here is a report about the Kursk incursion which is also fairly accurate from what I have read. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-ukraine-belgorod-1.7292001. I haven’t noticed particularly a change in tone in Ottawa with regards to Ukraine but maybe I am mistaken. Hope so.
From the sick sorry sludge that is geopolitics today you have stilled off the poisonous fractions and bottled a satanic spirit.
Way to go man, you’re the real deal.
What has happened ?
Gaza, Gaza, Gaza, Ga/
Cut off from the world.
Israel killing,
Morning, noon and night- raping
Palestinians.
Evil in the world,
Mercy to the merciless ?
Lord. Oh please…..
A hard hitting article from Johnathan Cook – its shows that Israeli troops are posting their war crimes against Palestinians on social media – and making jokes about their butchery.
It also shows that on Israeli tv – its completely acceptable to call for the raping of Palestinian prisoners, to be legitimate, and an official policy.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/08/12/israels-been-like-this-since-1948/
What does it say about the West – that some countries, such as the US, UK and Germany continue to back Israel – in its murderous genocide of the utterly oppressed Palestinian people.
Mr. Murray,
more about Kursk and symbolism: Ukrainian media boast and call it Kurskaya Bitva (the Battle of Kursk), common historical terminology.
There are also reports that nationalist battalion with the curious name “Nachtigal” is participating in the attack. (In WW2 in Ukraine were Nachtigal and Roland nazi units).
https://kursk-news.net/society/2024/08/09/365513-amp.html
These days we were also discussing another Ukrainian military unit – SS Bears
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/forums/topic/the-future-of-wikipedia/#post-99961
and here is what is being reported today in the Russian media about Germany
https://ria-ru.translate.goog/20240812/natsisty-1965787398.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ru&_x_tr_pto=wapp
The German Defense Ministry has included Wehrmacht officers, some of whom were members of the SS and NSDAP, in a list dedicated to the country’s military tradition, department spokesman Arne Kollatz said at a cabinet briefing.
Earlier, several local media published excerpts from an internal newsletter of Lieutenant General Kai Rohrschneider, according to which the German Ministry of Defense intends to expand the “decree on traditions” drawn up in 2018 – a document regulating the “culture of remembrance” in the German troops.
According to media reports, the decision was made to expand the list following Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’ demands for the Bundeswehr to be “combat ready” due to the conflict in Ukraine. Journalists considered it questionable that the list included such individuals as Nazi ace pilot Erich Hartmann, submariner Erich Topp, who was a member of the SS and NSDAP, and 22 other “tradition-making individuals” who served in the Wehrmacht.
…
Although these individuals are known for their service to Nazi Germany, Kollatz argues that “they are primarily honored for their post-war services.”
In February, the Bild reported, citing historical documents, that the grandfather of German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Waldemar Baerbock, was an ardent Nazi and Wehrmacht officer. According to media reports, he read Mein Kampf* and fully supported the regime. In 1944, he was awarded the Hitler Cross of War Merit with Swords.
In June, the Bunte magazine published an investigation according to which two relatives of German Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economics Robert Habeck served as officers in Hitler’s Germany. His grandfather was an SA Obersturmführer, and his great-grandfather was a recognized war criminal SS officer from the inner circle of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
thx [thanks] Tatyana, so I don´t have to inform about this.
Of course as relatives are concerned: The very same circumstances in the 1960s led to the huge student protests. The young generation protesting against their mothers and fathers – not grandparents – serving in the “Reich”. So that led to the complete opposite. Actually – as you see – history if we are being honest means shit. Its purely instrumental to political means. So Habeck and Baerbock could as well have relatives who were killed by the Gestapo for being in the resistance. Both would still enforce the same criminal policies towards Russia as they have been doing since 2021.
p.s In Dec. 2021 Baerbock criticized Habeck for being too belligerent. So there is a considerable element of doublethink contained in this reality. They are lying to themselves willingly ignoring the truth. Otherwise they would not work as cogs.
Tatyana.
Well the regime in Ukraine finally did it: they set fire to the ZNPP using two-kamikaze drones. The ZNPP is the largest nuclear power station in Europe, and if the Ukrainian forces manage to damage its nuclear core – fires were still ongoing, as of yesterday – Europe will suffer for it.
These people have been conspicuous by their absence – and tacitness on the matter.
“Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the strike by Ukrainian forces with the rhetorical question: “Where is Rafael Grossi and the entire IAEA?”
Tatyana…
…criticism over the change of this decision regarding memory of German Wehrmacht personnel apparently was so substantial that it has allegedly been reversed by German MoD….
“Ministry of Defense withdraws amendment to Bundeswehr tradition decree”
https://augengeradeaus-net.translate.goog/2024/08/verteidigungsministerium-zieht-ergaenzung-zu-bundeswehr-traditionserlass-zurueck/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Phew!
I guess it will happen if the need arises but I’m glad it’s not today
For goodness sake Craig.
“Kursk is therefore a place of great symbolism for Ukraine to attack now into Russia, including with German artillery and armour.”
OK for the Russians to attack into Ukraine but not for Ukraine to reciprocate?
Sorry but you need to review the laws of war.
So we ought to be arming and supporting Russia against the invader now – right?
By the way, could you remind me where CM said it was “OK for the Russians to attack into [the] Ukraine”, because I’m a little suspicious you made that up.
Glenn_nl
For the defender (Ukraine) to counterattack the aggressor (Russia) is entirely legal under the laws of war .
Do you disagree?
I asked a question
“OK for the Russians to attack into Ukraine but not for Ukraine to reciprocate?”
in response to Craig’s comment that “Kursk is therefore a place of great symbolism for Ukraine to attack now into Russia, including with German artillery and armour.”
Frankly “symbolism” is trumped by the military necessity for a smaller country to deter an attack by a larger one.
Or should the Finns have refrained from killing Red Army invaders because of the symbolism of destroying the proletarian people’s army? (No.)
So, for the defender (Donbass) to counterattack the aggressor (Kiev) is entirely legal, too. That’s how this war started.
Tatyana
My recollection is that Russia attempted to incorporate the territory of Ukraine (Crimea and Donbass) into its own. A continuing war of aggression which continues.
Ukraine has every right to resist and counter-attack as it chooses.
You’ve been posting on this blog for a long time. So there is no doubt that you know the actual events. But the way you interpret that makes me think that you either have a memory disorder or a thinking disorder, namely an inability to see cause-and-effect chains.
You should start with the anti-Russian policy of the post-Maidan Kiev regime, the war in Donbass, and read the Minsk agreements – it’s not the incorporation of territories into Russia, but the autonomy within Ukraine.
If Kiev decided to simply bomb Donbass and Lugansk into submission, then people have the legal right to defend themselves from the aggressor.
And if you recognize the right of Kiev to receive help from their partners (NATO), then you must also recognize the right of Crimea and Donbass to receive help from their partners (Russia).
Universality is a sign of principle; this distinguishes it from emotional propaganda slogans. Applies to everything. Works both ways. What’s good for the goose is also good for the gander. Do you understand? It’s rather simple, actually. Maybe when I retire I’ll write a book “How to be smart”.
JK you are incorrect about Russia wanting to incorporate Donbass into the territory of Russia. The exact opposite: Russia, through the Minsk accords, hoped to reintegrate the Donbass (Luhansk and Donetsk) within Ukraine as autonomous republics.
If there is any “symbolism” it is surely that neo-Nazi Ukraine’s incursion using German weapons will only stiffen Russian resolve to drive the invaders out as it did previously, and from what I have read Russia is doing just that with huge Ukrainian losses.
The “legality” of Ukraine’s actions is one thing, more important is the purpose, which seems more PR than military and just shows how plainly stupid is the Ukraine leadership and its cheerleaders, which sadly include UK amongst them.
Crispa
To describe Ukraine as neo-NAZI is absurd and echoes the Russians State’s invective against Ukraine.
On the other hand, Russia is a corrupt authoritarian regime attempting to subdue its neighbours and reduce them (like Belarus) to vassal status.
JK redux, you are trying to choose a guilty and innocent side here. You cannot be serious, surely. Anyone with any sense and a bit of historical knowledge knows that the USA persuading Ukraine to join NATO – which in turn would have allowed the USA-financed and -controlled NATO war organisation to site USA-made and -controlled missiles on the border of Ukraine and Russia around about where Ukraine have just crossed the Russian border just 400 miles from Moscow – was going to be repelled, and it is.
Russia will push the Ukrainian army back into Ukraine then hit it with a mighty punishment. The blame for all this lies with USA and Ukraine for thinking that between them they could bully Russia on its doorstep. The wider extended story is that USA is slowly losing its place as world leader; China is coming – move aside USA.
The response of USA was to persuade its little puppy the UK to do Brexit then provide support to Israel and join Australia in forming AUKUS to try and threaten China. As we see regularly China watch on but are well prepared. Note the connective tissue in all this – UK, USA, Australia – all individually formed from the dying embers of a so-called British empire.
Watch out – BRICS is coming. As for the EU, it had a great deal with Russia for gas and with China for goods sold on Amazon but it was whittling away at USA control of trade, so USA destroyed the gas pipeline and persuaded the EU that Russia had expansionist intentions – what nonsense: it can’t cope with more land mass. USA then persuaded the EU to block trade with China as part of the deal to replace Russian gas with USA shale gas. Yes, of course it was all coordinated (Brexit, Russia/Ukraine, China) all coordinated by USA to wrest control of world trade back from China – but it hasn’t worked. China, Russia, India, and others are hell bent on ending the USA monopoly and USA nuclear submarines are not enough to stop them.
Terence Callachan
You say that ” Russia will push the Ukrainian army back into Ukraine then hit it with a mighty punishment. ”
Or maybe not. The Russian military is as usual a corrupt and badly organised mob.
The term “mighty punishment” is almost biblical. You believe that Ukraine is due for (deserves?) mighty punishment for its temerity in counter-attacking Russia?
Russia (the Putin regime in fact) deserves condign punishment for its brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Ah now we are getting somewhere as the Narrative manipulation ends up its own fundament.
Palestinians to counter attack the occupation imperialist entity and reclaim THEIR LAND from the apartheid imperialist colonisers.
Scottish nationalists to attack the English imperialists.
To reclaim their enclosed lands and moors!
Freeing themselves from rule by Westminster and the Crown. . .
Just like Eire did…
Hawaaii from US – In fact Germany and Japan too!
… Ooh, this is fun!
This is a reply to a subsequent comment of yours that does not have a reply button.
“To describe Ukraine as neo-NAZI is absurd.”
TRUE, the Nazis in Ukraine are not Neo-Nazis because they are Paleo-Nazis left over from World War II, the followers of Stepan Bandera who joined the Nazis in exterminating 30,000 Jews.
Then you have to prepared for: All is fair in Love and War.
Don’t moan if the other side plays dirty because wars are dirty.
The US has always played the – we can harm you but you are not allowed to harm us game.
In the coming day’s we may witness the All is fair in Love and War principle.
I hope it’s not as bad as it could be, but unfortunately wars of survival generate a ‘ fairness ‘ all
of their own.
MMC
Ukraine is fighting a war of survival all right.
Fortunately for Russia, Ukraine voluntarily surrendered its nuclear armaments after the fall of the USSR.
Russia is fighting a war of choice, easily ended by a Russian withdrawal to its own territory.
“Russia is fighting a war of choice, easily ended by a Russian withdrawal to its own territory.”
If you really believe it would be settled after that once and for all you must be living on the moon.
Every NATO document, every NSC paper, every RAND study betrays that notion.
Or to quote Ted Postol, former designer of the MX missile (in March 2022)
“And all this nonsense about NATO not being a hostile alliance against—all you have to do is read NATO’s statements and records, and what they’re up to, and why they’re planning and what their planning is for. It’s ridiculous to claim that NATO is not a hostile alliance against Russia.
What Nuclear armaments did they surrender?
Why didn’t they just make more? You know from their nuke factories which they made ‘their’ original ones?
‘A war of survival’ is too much unnecessary drama.
In reality, Ukraine is fighting for territories that do not want to be under the rule of this regime.
The war could have been avoided if Kiev had complied with the Minsk agreements.
Their friends from NATO convinced them that they can ignore diplomatic solutions and hold these territories by military means. For this they were promised a place in the ‘European garden’.
Simple and understandable even to a very stupid person.
Tatyana
You say that ” Ukraine is fighting for territories that do not want to be under the rule of this regime.”
A good description of Russia’s behaviour in Chechnya and other “Republics”.
Simple and understandable even to a very stupid person.
It’s good description of Kiev’s behaviour in Donbass and Crimea, exactly what I have written.
Your answer, however, is a whataboutism – an empty statement that does not provide any argument in support of one’s position.
In the absence of a substantive argument, the attempt to be ironic looks especially stupid.
Tatyana
While “whataboutery” is not a substantive argument, it is a valid response to a claim of the form “A does bad things to B”.
The war of conquest by Muscovy in Chechnya was vastly more destructive that any Ukrainian counter-terrorism actions in Donbass. You do accept that Russia assisted irregular troops in the Donbass?
You say that “the attempt to be ironic looks especially stupid”.
Pots and kettles…
I’ll start from afar.
When we teach small children to use their brains, we usually start with the most basic logical techniques, such as comparison. That is, to find what is common and what is different in objects.
So, we show little Johnny two balls, and a normotypical little Johnny has no problem saying: these are two balls, one of them is red, and the other is green.
Now imagine there’s a “ball” that started a radical Islamic sect, Wahhabism, declared jihad, blew up the Moscow metro, carried out a terrorist attack in the Dubrovka theater – these were the methods used to establish an independent Sharia Islamic state, the Caucasus Emirate.
On the other hand, there’s a “ball” that turned to the international community, developed the Minsk agreements, secured guarantees from European leaders and had the presence of the OSCE mission, wanting to gain autonomy within Ukraine.
What do these two “balls” have in common and what is different?
Some little Johnnies will raise their hand and say, “I know the right answer. Russia is bad.”
Unfortunately, not all children are normotypical. But what’s worse is the teachers who give the highest score to such students.
Tatyana
You are not addressing schoolchildren here though that trope may amuse you? Perhaps you are a teacher of preschool children?
I mean no offence but your “ball” anecdote, if intended to illustrate logical ideas, fails.
It fails because it is prolix and opaque.
The logical idea is the law of the excluded middle (x ^ ‘x = F)?
If not that then what?
My university major was Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, I’m also certified to teach English to children. So you have made the right conclusion, I’m a teacher.
As you can see, it is quite easy to draw conclusions about a person based on their posts.
in turn, I see that you have compassion for Ukrainians, but you do not extend this to Donbassians or Crimeans. Didn’t they teach you in school that they are all equally human beings?
I also see that you stubbornly refuse to see the problem with the glorification of Nazis by the Kiev regime.
So, who are you?
I expect many people here at least occasionally check out Russian TV – in my case in translation on YouTube channels like Russian Media Monitor.
The following piece by Sergey Mardan is illuminating.
https://youtu.be/HZYtPQlmwTo?si=-R9Xqnb9zb5yhZbK
“An empire is always waging war somewhere. Somewhere on the outskirts of our glorious empire our glorious legions are defeating the barbarians “….
Delusional certainly but indicative of (ironically given the rhetoric about Nazis from the Kremlin) a deeply Fascist mindset.
The issue – might – also be the totally neglected fact in our media that Art. 51 and the entire legal framework is built on the assumption of sovereign states acting in sovereign ways. Which in the case of Ukraine doesn´t add up, if even folks like Stoltenberg admit that this is a “proxy war”. Art. 51 however was never drafted to serve as cover for any such “fraudulent” concept as a proxy war. It eventually betrays the conduct of sovereign nations. If the other side is not free in his/her policy choices who am talking to for real?
We have a tremendous breakdown of morals, which in turn give green light to the butchers in Israel to continue their nasty murderfest. The exact type of breakdown the world saw during the fascist, nazi regimes. When no one protest, the slaughter could go on freely and a sick, depraved normalization kicks in. How many times must one read “xxx palestinians killed in israeli strike” How much terror must the palestinians endure? Have the palestinians no human value to the disgraceful western nasties ruling us? Remember how much talk there was of R2P (responsibility to protect) past decade? Where the heck are these hypocrites today on Gaza!?
The Gaza war is the final nail in the coffin of R2P
The doctrine was always a la carte, evident in the silence of the most strident humanitarian interventionists today
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/responsibility-to-protect/
I also think it is absurd that there have not been like ex-politicians/leaders/president/PMs etc that have united worldwide together and and taken a organized stance against this genocide that enough is enough. Where the hell is everyone!?
The duplicity in the media, by western politicians is really something too:
Note how freely words like occupation, annexation, warcrimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, genocide are used and how easily sympathy with ukrainians, sympathy with ukranian attacks on russian civilans is propagated in the media.
Media take every claim by ukrainian state as facts and everything Russia say as a lie. Acts by Russia is considered violation of the rule-based order, acts by Ukraine is considered legal, justified even when deliberally attacking civilians and escalating with the events in Kursk. Russia is considered racist that try to wipe off the ukrainian psyche and Ukraine from the map. Generalization of russians wherever it manifest itself. Russians are depicted as sexual brutes and terrorists.
Now compare that with how media frame what is going on in Gaza where, media usually claim that the israeli occupation is “disputed”, the word annexation is rarely if ever uttered, ethnic cleansing is called by the eufemism “displacement”, warcrimes/crimes against humanity is never uttered as an obvious fact but is once again said to be “disputed”, there is zero sympathy with the palestinian people not to mention palestininian civilians. Everything Israel say is taken at face value, meanwhile everything palestinians, the victims say, is considered lies by the “Hamas controlled” Gaza. Never have the western media/politicians claimed that Israel violate the “rules based order”. Generalizations against israelis/jews are framed as horrid antisemitism even though great majority of this group support what the Israeli leaders do. The word apartheid or that Israel is racist is considered an affront. Israeli ministers could even justify, with the backing of the west, anal rape of male palestinian prisoners but the israelis are never considered sexual brutes, sadists. Israelis are never considered terrorists even though they are daily and openly brag how they target civilian targets.
etc etc…
How could so many journalists sign up to this pathological double-talk?? Where is the protests, from within the media?!
The European response has been totally inadequate, but it’s good to see today that its foreign policy chief Borrell highlighted how senior Israeli ministers are supporting the genocide:
” Min. Ben Gvir calls for cutting fuel & aid to civilians.
Like Min. Smotrich sinister statements, this is an incitement to war crimes. Sanctions must be on our EU agenda.”
https://x.com/JosepBorrellF/status/1822734595873542321
The EU probably won’t take action against the war criminals but at least Borrell’s comment is a change from the unconditional support for Israel from many politicians in the EU, especially in Germany.
Brendan, there are leaders around the world desperate to act against Israel but with nuclear submarines turning their nuclear missiles to face them they go silent, just as we are seeing with Iran now. We have headlines across the world already saying Iran have attacked Israel but then you read on and the headline becomes ‘Iran are thinking about attacking Israel’. Yes, we know Iran want to attack Israel but we also know that the USA and UK nuclear submarines ARE NOT the nuclear war deterrents the USA and UK government claim them to be. We know they are built for use and will be used, and that is why they are hiding in plain sight in the mediterranean right now – ready to send nuclear bombs to Iran, killing millions of people should Iran attack Israel. The purpose of Israel is to keep the arab countries in fear whilst their arab oil is drained and sent to USA. Nothing more, nothing less.
Just another bluster-move by Josep Horrible-Borellia trying to save face and shield himself personally from accusations post the genocide that he did not act during the genocide. Thinking statements like this would absolve him/EU from complicity in the crimes.
No wonder Borrell do not have any sympathy for independence movements, he is/was a hardliner during the renewed Catalan independence efforts some years ago:.
2017:
Josep Borrell warns of Catalan ‘domino effect’ The veteran Spanish Socialist politician — himself a Catalan — says that the independence argument is based on a myth.
https://www.politico.eu/article/catalonia-referendum-independence-josep-borrell-warns-of-domino-effect/
Or take this interview where Borell get cranky after getting tough questions on the Catalan issue:
Video: “Stop the record [recording], you are continuously lying! Next time [ask] the questions in a less biased way”.
https://www.facebook.com/ancengland/videos/borrell-goes-mad-on-german-television-and-leaves-the-interview/2255470561437965/
The Mind Just Shivers
And My Heart Strings Quiver
The Blood Red Rivers.
Craig has mentioned the mass rape of Prisoners … all whilst the West supports it…. Carrier Bags with Several people’s remains … All Mince.
Here is an article from Mondoweiss –
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/08/israeli-medias-coverage-of-the-rape-of-palestinian-detainees-shows-support-for-sexual-violence-in-service-of-genocide/?
London will never accede to independence for Scotland.
In the interests of [England’s] national security, London will use every trick, smear, or force, to keep Scotland under its control.
Democracy? Was there ever a democracy?
Democracy. From the Greek ‘rule of the people’. However, the ancient Greeks never meant ‘the people’, they meant the ruling classes. So our forms of democracy actually fit closer with the ancient Greek meaning than the UN definition of government by the people.
“However, the ancient Greeks never meant ‘the people’, they meant the ruling classes.”
No, that’s not right. In the Athenian democracy, everyone had a vote. But the voting public was limited to adult male citizens, not women or slaves or resident foreigners.
Where is the West going?
Backing Ukraine against Russia, backing Israel against the Middle East are expected, fairly normal. Though the unrelenting horror of Israel’s destruction of Gaza is way above the norm. In one way I find the attacks against China more worrying. China itself has done little wrong, though the West has found many excuses to denigrate it and sanction it.
The main difference is that China is now a superpower. How can the West effectively tackle it? As the West’s behaviour drives countries away from us towards China, things only get more difficult. I see no exit strategy, no benefit to the West, no way of winning – other than a Pyrrhic victory. Is there an insane plan? Or are they insane?
Bringing in something else: climate change. It is the real deal, very hard to tackle and will cause enormous damage if not dealt with. Again, there is no real plan, only half a plan. Either we are led by idiots, or they are gambling on some enormous destructive “reset”.
I reckon Putin hits the nail on the head with his “Golden Billion” phrase. We act as if the Western countries are the world when they are well under 20% of it. Western hegemony was built on technology. Being first to be able to sail ships around the world. Being first with factories mass producing tat such as mirrors and beads, copper bangles and missionary pots that could be favourably exchanged for resources, slaves and even territory. Being able to mass produce guns, gunboats and later warplanes to grab by force the things we couldn’t buy with beads and mirrors. But China spotted its main chance. Now it’s the Workshop of the World, able to supply whatever tat others want in exchange for resources. They’ve made sure to get a suitable number of students educated to take a lead in science and technology and, of course, to teach further students in their own universities. That genie isn’t going back in any bottle and it’s hard to see what, other than threats of violence with Wonder Weapons that are proving to be less than wonderful in Ukraine, the West has to bring to the party.