Doesn’t Iran execute people? Well, there you are then. It’s all their fault, and they’ve got WMD too. Real ones, I mean. Not like last time, only more so.

The neocons will keep quiet now their mission has been accomplished. They never from the start had any care for the sanctity of life, human or otherwise. Oil was their only motive. Blair, lying through his evil teeth again, said if it was oil the west was after we could ‘cut a deal’. Well now with 90% of Iraqi oil, (previously nationalised by the Iraqi government) in the hands of privately-owned western companies there is no need to lie any more. The truth speaks for itself!

Artificial borders drawn from thousands miles away on a piece of paper without taking into consideration cultural, religious, ethnical and other compositions are real problems of Iraq and Iraqi people

@Philip, I hope you are being sarcastic.
Iran does execute, and each single execution is reported in the MSM here, and extra judicial killing?? the only one are western/Israhell sponsored ones.

Azra
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Is not Iran also involved in sectarian violence in neighbouring Iraq?

@Azra, yes, that was sarcasm. It was also an anticipation of the arguments soon to be used in prosecuting Werritty’s War; once transferred to that context it will cease to be sarcasm and become bold, enlightened statesmanship, though I don’t suppose I shall get a penny in royalties.

Uzbek, the simple answer is I do not know. There is so much negative propaganda is going on about Iran that is very difficult to sift truth out! There are many Shia killed in Iraq, many of them Iranian Pilgrims but half of that do not get reported in the west, so who knows.
I do not know though , what is the benefit to Iran if there is sectarian violence in a neighbouring country??

‘I do not know though , what is the benefit to Iran if there is sectarian violence in a neighbouring country??’
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Well, it is Iraq we are talking about. Does history of conflicts between Iran and Iraq as well as oppression of Shia’s by Sunni minority in the past in Iraq give you any clue?

But what benefit is to Iran to promote Sectarian violence? I mean Mullah is anything but stupid and we have counties in Iran which the majority are Sunnis. Promoting Sunni/Shia violence could spill over to that area of Iran. I am very suspicious of what I am told in MSM, all the same I can only say honestly do not know. You might be right, on the other hand….

Meanwhile in Libya
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http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/26/world/africa/libya-msf-torture/

“The Iraqi governmnet executed 34 people in a single day last week, and judicial killings are running at over 600 people a year”.

Wow, that’s more than Texas! (318 last year, down from 454 in 2004).

what would stop anyone experienced in false flagging events, to go out killing shia’s to pretend its done by Sunni’s and then go out the next night, killing some sunni’s, in the name of shiadom?

If someone wants to inflame Iran and Iraq, indeed the whole muslim world, that would be a way to do it and I would not rule out such or similar scenario. We are building up to something, Azra, but I share your suspicions as to who did what where?

I’m beginning to think that mission is accomplished in Iraq and Libya. The goal was to bomb them back into the stoneage, rid them of all the benefits of modern society and stir up tribal hatereds,because that is the legacy of US and NATO driven foreign intervention.
The people of Baghdad struggle to get fresh water despite there being a huge river running through it.back to torture,back to the worst of Saddam & Co.For some reason they didn’t want the Iraqi’s to keep the good things he’d given them.
Every time I hear of a bomb blast in Iraq, I see the pictures of those two SAS soldiers dressed as Arabs , arrested with a car full of bomb making materials…
We were creating anarchy in Basra, maybe they’ve just moved North.

OK, I got the Texas executions figure grossly wrong. There were 318 on death row; in fact, only 43 people were executed in the whole USA in 2011 (1277 since 1976).

“The goal was to bomb them back into the stoneage, rid them of all the benefits of modern society and stir up tribal hatreds,because that is the legacy of US and NATO driven foreign intervention”.

Also – and I think this is often overlooked – simply to remind other governments that it’s unhealthy to refuse Washington whatever it asks for. As Voltaire said of the British government’s intentions in shooting Admiral Byng, “pour encourager les autres” (“to encourage the others”).

Tom Welsh
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You can replace Washington with any capital of present days world’s major power and the same truth will apply. It is only a matter of time before economic development (by which enrichment was understood) will bring (or encourage) political elites to use military power to secure supply of resources and markets. This was something that was said by Marx in his Capital. Although, witnessing Marxism in practise I hugely disagree with it, I shall admit that theoretical Marxism perfectly describes what was and what is going on in the world today. Fare to add here that Socialist USSR where practical Marxism was in place was not far behind its imperialistic adversaries in exploitation and domination.

@Uzbek In The UK
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Why do you make things up?
,
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The simplest of facts are twisted and turned by your kind, without any attention to the merits of the subject at hand; Who will benefit from any sectarian strife in Iraq?
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Certainly not Iran. Therefore, why Iran should engage in any activities that does not further her interests, and more to the point hampers and harms the progression of those interests?
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Iran’s policy in Iraq is far more sophisticated than the cowboy dreamt up US and coalition of the dumb policies of promotion of “sectarianism”. Furthermore, any sane individual would acknowledge that sectarianism is the policy choice of the weak, stemming from an awareness of a distinct lack of strength and capabilities.
,
[Mod/jon: added Fedup's alias, wrong alias was used accidentally]

Tareq Aziz: Life Hanging in the Balance
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/01/tareq-aziz-life-hanging-in-the-balance/

@ Kenny Boy
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You said “Who will benefit from any sectarian strife in Iraq? Certainly not Iran”
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Can you explain why Iran would not benefit from supporting Shia in sectarian violence in Iraq?
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Was not Iran fighting wars with Iraq and its Sunni run government where oppression of Shia was partially a reason or the war? Would not Iran largely benefit from Shia dominated Iraq where the role of Sunni is reduced to the second class citizens? Or would Iran benefit from Sunni run Iraq which would naturally ally with Sunni Arab world?

wow Uzbek, you are putting your foot in it again. Are you forgetting that Iran was not the one who started the war?? it was Iraq which invaded Iran, and what would you expect, for Iranian to open the doors and welcome the invaders??
Oppression of Shia was never the reason for the war between Iran and Iraq, the reason was the claim of Iraq over Shat-el-Arab water way.
Iraq is majority Shia, so it would be natural in view of the years of being put down, that Shia will vote for Shia, and the government would be mostly made of Shia! so Iran does not need to cause sectarian strife for that to happen, it will happen naturally. Same as in UK, majority of MPS, Ministers are Caucasian/Christian (although I dont think their religion is a factor), it is just the simple math!

This is Obama’s ‘new, stable, democratic’ Iraq. Didn’t hear any of these stats in his SOTU speech the other night.

Yes Philip, I like your approach and I read ‘media lies’ thank-you.
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Agreed Ingo – “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
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Mary – ” The Judge who tried him [Tareq Aziz] and Saddam Hussein was “trained” by a legal team from Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana, — ironically, a Catholic University.”
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The University of Notre Dame Law School professor who helped train the judges was George HW Bush’s man, Jimmy Gurulé. Jimmy Gurulé was appointed by Dubya on the assertion of his father as U.S. Treasury undersecretary for enforcement. – that of course is the truth about the situation.
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Gurulé had been in the secret service and I am researching his life because he is one of the few insiders into the 2001 ‘terrorist’ attacks!?
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Says it all..

“The war effort in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan has already cost taxpayers more than $2 trillion and could go as high as $4.4 trillion before it’s all over. At least $31 billion (and as much as $60 billion or more) of that $2 trillion was lost to waste and fraud by military contractors, who do everything from janitorial and food service work to construction, security and intelligence — jobs that used to be handled by the military.”

It was only ever about money-laundering federal $$$ into the accounts of US corporations, hence the whole revolving door thing. It’s what John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man calls the corporatocracy and it’s all still going swimmingly.

This was why public appetite had to be refreshed with The Surge, not because it would accomplish anything. It simply was a way to ‘reset’ the public and generate a means of staying longer.

Craig,

Have you read this slur against you by Joshua Foust?

http://www.registan.net/index.php/2008/02/22/dirty-diplomacy-the-rough-and-tumble-adventures-of-a-scotch-drinking-skirt-chasing-dictator-busting-and-thoroughly-unrepentant-ambassador-stuck-on-the-frontline-of-the-war-against-terror-by-craig-murr/

I talked to him on twitter about US-UK support for Karmov. He said this:

joshuafoust: No one needs to fund him. Uzbekistan manufactures some things, and has some natural gas. It’s not much but it’s sustaining.

joshuafoust: No, not fact. Don’t assume anything Craig Murray says is fact. Ever.

joshuafoust: Murray did more to assure the UK will never do anything positive for Uzbekistan than anyone could have imagined. He’s awful.

I don’t agree with Foust in the slightest. But he seems to unfortunately hold a lot of weight in intelligence circles. Just thought you should know that there appears to be some type of censoring campaign against you – which greatly perturbs me as I am a great fan of your work.

Wasn’t the real reason for the invasion and the killing of hundreds of thousands of people that Dick Cheney wanted to boost his company’s profits?

All this ‘improvements in people’s life’ was never the object.

I still remember hearing Tony Blair bleating on about how we’d never… honest… hand on heart, turn our backs on the people of Iraq, but would help them turn Iraq into a beacon of democracy and human rights in the Middle East.

The reasons Iraq had to be destroyed are numerous. But the most important one seems to have been the desire to smash a, or any, nation that had the potential to become a regional power in the Middle East, one that could, at some point, pose a challenge to American hegemony in this vital region.

Iraq had that potential. It had a reasonably large and well-educated population, a nationlist ideology, a developed economy, a high standard of living, a strong army, and vast hidden wealth under its sand, wealth that was a blessing, but also a potential curse.

Now Iraq has been smashed to pieces in the most brutal manner imaginable and it’s development has been literally pushed back decades, and it may never really recover, not as a unified state. Saddam was really cut down to size, just like Iraq.

Now there’s only Syria and Iran left as independent states without American ‘protection’ and it’s the kind of ‘protection’ one hears about in gangster movies, one pays for ‘protection’ or one has an ‘accident.’

And what’s appalling is how truly ghastly the liberal/left have reacted to the destruction of Iraq and the dreadful human and material cost of our ‘crusade for democracy.’ In a healthy and functioning democracy core people in Tony Blair’s cabinet would be on trial, not earning millions, benefitting from their crimes.

And even today, after Iraq, and after Libya, the liberal/left, symbolized by the Guardian, have apparently learned absolutely nothing and are even continuing their ‘crusade for democracy’ in relation to Syria and Iran, promoting a crass, propaganda narrative designed to lead us all towards yet more war and more destruction and loss of life on an umimaginable scale.

Mary, what a fine article about Tareq Aziz, and what a wonderful summary he made about the purpose of the Iraq war ‘Oil and Israel’.

Kingfelix – an eye-opener thank-you.
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When I think of where that mondo amount could have been used I am amazed at the mentality. Perhaps not all of us descend from the Pharaoh?

iraq, afghanistan, libya – neocon constructive destruction and, looking forward, is China realising the part is could be playing?

26 Jan: WSJ: Iran Mulls Pre-empting EU Oil Embargo
Mohammad Karim Abedi, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee: “It could happen next week, not in six months [the date when] Europe has claimed the boycott will begin,” he said…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204573704577184772318044502.html

26 Jan: alarabiya: UAE Hormuz bypass pipeline faces more delay
A strategic pipeline for United Arab Emirates’ oil exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz could face more delay due to differences with the Chinese construction company, industry sources told Reuters on Thursday…
Tehran’s rhetoric has put planners under increased pressure to open the pipeline, industry sources told Reuters, but added that a row over how the work has been done threatens even the latest target date.
“There is political pressure to start this pipeline because of what’s happening with Iran,” a second industry source said, adding that UAE leaders have been involved in overseeing the project…
“Our impression is that the crude pipeline to Fujairah should be operational by August or September and crude sales will start then,” said a Dubai-based analyst who declined to be named…
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/01/26/190799.html

27 Jan: gulf news: UAE can export oil if Iran closes Hormuz
Strategic pipeline under construction would help bypass supply route
The 370-kilometre Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline has been delayed, with Minister of Energy Mohammad Bin Dha’en Al Hameli this month pushing back the start of operations to May or June…
“Iran is capable of fomenting tension in the region,” Dahi said in the interview, which was rebroadcast yesterday. “We in the Gulf have cards in our hands that allow us to marginalise the role of the strait and undermine its importance.”
http://gulfnews.com/business/oil-gas/uae-can-export-oil-if-iran-closes-hormuz-1.971897

@ Craig,

” I am waiting for a neo-con acolyte to tell us now how the “liberal intervention” has greatly improved the lot of the people of Iraq”

I can’t answer that one, but the one that really should concern us all is the new war that is being promoted with Iran:-

US foreign policy makers must either be failures in their international relations degree courses in University – or – they simply do not have much practical or common sense ( consider the prevailing scenario concerning Iran):-

1. Impose sanctions against Iran -then what?:-

a. Have less oil in the Western market
b. Cause oil prices to go up; and
c. Sink the global economy deeper into recession

2. And what with Iran?:-

a. China and India are prepared to pay for Iranian oil in gold.
b. Iran will accept Russian currency for payment of Iranian oil purchases; and
c. The net result for Iran in a global oil shortage market will be, to cut off the participant EU countries from the supply of Iranian oil, with a direct immediate domestic economic impact on those already ailing EU economies, coupled with increased prices for the alternative oil supplies that those EU countries will be compelled to purchase – and – in the end game more revenue accrue to the Iranian government for the oil that it continues to sell to China, India etc.

3. And what if the US attacks Iran?:-

Well…

a. Iran has the capacity immediately to inflict heavy counter-strikes on Israel.
b. South Lebanon is heavily equipped with missiles pointing directly into Israel with huge numbers of missiles and rockets ( we saw a small display of this in the last war from Lebanon – and the Israelis where then impotent – so – what more so now with renewed and well positioned locations to strike Israel?). With weapons so near Israel’s border, which will be launched once Iran is attacked. Is this not a response to the US encircling Iran, but who has the ultimate strategic advantage when it comes to attacks from Syria, Lebanon and long range missiles from Iran into Israel?
c. The blocking of the Straits of Hormuz and strikes by Iranian cells stationed in all the Western nations that participate in the attack on Iran will promptly be unleashed.

If I am incorrect on any of the points above, I wait for the State Department and the Pentagon planners, to tell me why, with all the brains and resources that the US has. Why me merely reading the international law applicable to the situation and logically reasoning through the options – can I figure out on my own the total no-win situation and discern the difference between lose-lose positions as opposed to win-lose positions. Me thinks that Washington is clueless as regards the distinction of one from t’other.
CB

Read on….

Michael Brenner
Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations; Professor of International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh
GET UPDATES FROM Michael Brenner

Iran: The Road to War?
Posted: 01/26/2012 10:32 am

The drums are sounding for war on Iran. The leading Republican presidential candidates pledge military action as soon as they cross the threshold of the White House. The Obama administration sharpens its rhetoric in accompaniment to imposing coercive sanctions. It strong arms its allies to stand with it in confrontation. Israel uses all of its formidable levers of influence to push the United States into war mode. All shades of the media work overtime to stoke fears in a manner reminiscent of the build-up to the Iraq invasion. Amidst all this noise and fury the one thing missing is a sober assessment of the problem and what are suitable approaches to addressing it. This unfortunately has become habitual in American foreign policy.
American foreign policy over the past 11 years has demonstrated a perverse genius for placing the United States in lose/lose situations. Navigating without a strategic gyroscope, and with maladroit diplomacy run by appointees who have skipped too many grades, we repeatedly have painted ourselves into a corner from which there is no escape other than by taking risky and highly costly expedient actions. That’s true of Afghanistan, Iraq (where Mr. Maliki rubs our noses in our failure by inflicting enhanced humiliation techniques on us weekly), Bahrain/Saudi Arabia, Palestine and — most dangerous of all — Iran. Two successive administrations have presumed to set unrealizable objectives and to try reaching them by ill conceived methods in ignoring the fundamental givens of the situation.

One, Iran will never forego the option of developing a nuclear capability that is crucial to their objective security needs. It is militarily encircled by the United States, living with nuclear armed neighbors and — in addition — is a Shi’ite island in a Sunni sea. Moreover, the country still lives with the trauma of huge losses in its eight year war with Saddam’s Iraq which was backed by Western and regional powers.
Two, therefore, sanctions and other means short of war will not work. The stakes are too high for the leadership while the suffering populace in these instances almost always directs its bitterness toward the outsiders who have inflicted the pain.
Three, the undeclared war by other means that we are conducting confirms the security imperative and solidifies a national consensus on the nuclear issue. A besieged country is acutely aware of its vulnerabilities and feels victimized as well. The paranoid streak in the minds of a political class that has experienced thirty years of conflict and tension prompts the question: why did the world accept the Pakistani “Sunni” bombs but will go to any lengths to prevent Iranians from acquiring a “Shi’ite bomb?” Since the very legitimacy of the Islamic Republic depends on its self identity as the expression of a Shi’ism that historically has suffered persecution by Sunnis, there is a powerful sense of discrimination.
Four, somehow neutralizing the potentially destabilizing effects of the Iranian nuclear program requires reaching a set of understandings and putting in place arrangements that satisfy the basic security interests of all parties in the Gulf region. Here is what Ephraim Halevy, former chief of Israel’s Mossad and a native of Iran, has to say on this score:
It is not part of my vocation to stop water from flowing. Iran will have the bomb. If no one does anything Iran will have it in ten years (MB: estimate in 2006), In my capacity as head of Mossad, that is to say insofar as I am one of those responsible for the defense and security of Israel, the only thing that I can do is to push back this date enough by the most subtle means possible in order that we have the time to elaborate, among the West, Iran and us a regional security system which provides guarantees acceptable to everyone.
Five, talks on the nuclear question that ignore the above are doomed to failure. Insistence on a complete separation of the nuclear issue from broader security concerns can lead at best to a short term marginal slowing of Iran’s predetermined course.
Six, to paint the Islamic Republic as the epitome of evil and to pursue a veiled strategy of regime change makes serious negotiation impossible. Iranians of all stripes find the country’s depiction as an international pariah intolerable. They resent being treated as a rogue nation denied the rights that other states are accorded routinely while being singled out for the imposition of penalties and constraints.
Seven, this logic holds despite the Islamic Republic being a noxious regime that has abused its citizens.
Eight, consequently Washington’s tiptoeing to the brink of conflict puts us in the position of either backing away and thereby losing face and credibility (along with votes for Mr. Obama in November) or taking military action whose effects would be disastrous.
Conclusion: if you feel it is imperative to deny Iran a nuclear capability, then get ready for a costly war and chaotic aftermath. More and more aggressive coercion short of military action has no hope of resolution; it could bring on war unintentionally, however. Let’s be honest about what we want and the full implications of going after it.

American post-9/11 imperial ambitions have been driven by the belief in absolute and total security. That has meant military and political domination of the Greater Middle East. In reckless pursuit of this delusional goal, our schemes have founded against the harsh realities of international life. It would be tragic if the curtain falls on a scene of a cataclysmic failure of our own making.

Craig you had a volunteer on the beavering thread, rude not to acknowledge him!
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Crab: “Tony12 are you responsible for the noisy campaign of TonyOPMOC drunken spleen posts? …”
Tony12: No. Too busy working most of the time. I am a much more simple soul. We do classical music videos, documentaries and interviews – mainly for the internet so we have the right codecs for delivering content, not just for broadcasting or making DVDs.

John Goss – “The truth speaks for itself!”
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But it doesn’t – in the short run anyway. Not as far as 90% of the UK Daily-Fail-reading public are concerned, The problem isn’t with Bush/Blair/Obama/Haliburton – it’s that 90% of the UK/USA public don’t give a monkeys about the rest of the world – or even about their own democracy or civil rights – as long as their petrol is cheap, their Backberrys are connected, and there’s crap TV to watch.

Unintentional by deception ‘Courtenay’ – this is how we roll…
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In reckless pursuit of a cataclysmic rush in a heart-beat.
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A sobering post.

Iraq is in great shape! Goy suffering helps the Master Race of Yisrael feel good.

Courtenay Barnett,
I had a good laugh, Indeed failures to a man of the bastards.
,
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The foreign policy of these lunatics was the reason I forwarded the notion of the tripartite Saudi, not so long ago.
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The plain fact is US has underestimated Iran by far. This goes for the rest of the US cohorts. The stupidity of the latest round of sanctions has already paid off; Coryton Bankruptcy.
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I wrote on this in /beavering-away thread, but no one seemed to care about it:
Fedup
24 Jan, 2012 – 10:11 pm

The mistake both Tariq Azis and Saddam made was believing that the west played by all these fancy rules they made up when in actual fact the only rules the west follows is mafia ones. Probably they believed, as a member of the saintly United Nations their positions as members of a bona fide government would be protected under international law. In fact the west is just one big criminal enterprise.

@ Fedup,

“The plain fact is US has underestimated Iran by far.”

The way I read it is that it really is a lose-lose scenario if the war kicks off. It will quickly develop a dynamic of its own and the MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction – ( and factors which cannot be contained and/or conrtol in a situation of warfare) – will both quickly impact the whole world in a most bloody and brutal way.

So – who cares?

Well – I do. Anyone else concerned?

“could go as high as $4.4 trillion before it’s all over”
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“Operation Ajax was regime change at its cheapest and most effective. It cost a mere $1,000,000 to run”
http://www.firmmagazine.com/features/910/What's_Libya_Got_to_Do_With_It…%3F.html

Courtenay Barnett,
I am on record on the very subject.
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The notion of a little bit of war that is being so assiduously propagated, is an unlikely scenario. Any potential war scenario will be very quickly spinning out of control and would eventually involve at least Russians to begin with, and soon after Chinese too.
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Craig has been busy blowing the cover of the bastards who have been plotting away in the background to push their own lines of policy, which are in fact to the detriment of the national interests of UK, and US.
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You bet I care too, and I am damn concerned about it.

We care Fedup.
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Still raising heckles Boni? – wot? ya bin court ina monsoooon?

@ Guest and Fedup,

Guest – this new war with Iran won’t be war on the cheap – like CIA Kermit Roosevelt back in 1953.

Fedup – Mad people, who don’t care about human life, humanity, or human decency – want to kick off this war in the service of global hegemony. Call it “imperial hubris” if you like.

It will be explosive and uncontrollable – so which sane person would want to venture there?

Courtenay Barnett, and Mark Golding – Children Of Iraq
‘US, unleashed dog kowtowing to Israel’
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Worthwhile to listen to. Raises the point about “Natanyahu ought to send a Mossad assassination squad to kill Obama”

“sane person”
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Is there truly such on this world ?.

Kathy – I do like your honesty – that was a brave statement; thankfully enlightenment is pervasive and truth permeates through young minds- so the ‘grand plan’ is finite; the journey back to the black hole whence we came has been slowed, eventually to stop while the past is rewritten and the ‘enterprise’ forgotten.
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Not too painfully I hope.

@ Fedup,

” The United States is no longer a super power that ‘can make decisions that are in her own best interest,’ but the country is like an ‘unleashed dog’ that is simply kowtowing to the Israelis, said Mark Glenn, of the Crescent and Cross solidarity movement in a Wednesday interview.”

Says it all…

@ Kathy,

” The mistake both Tariq Azis and Saddam made was believing that the west played by all these fancy rules they made up when in actual fact the only rules the west follows is mafia ones. Probably they believed, as a member of the saintly United Nations their positions as members of a bona fide government would be protected under international law. In fact the west is just one big criminal enterprise.”

Myself a lawyer, in part I agree with you. Why “in part”?

Well – sometimes the rules as a baseline are actually usefully and can be applied to good effect for justice.

On the other limb, there are the situations that you allude to – and you are absolutely correct – it then becomes – might is right.

But – what else can we do but struggle for some justice under the rules – until – cum the revolution?

Over to you Kathy…

Blame it on spell check:-

“the rules as a baseline are actually usefully”

Of course – “useful”

Correction made – to good effect – hopefully?

Ignore – get on with the debate and forget my indulgences at this point.

“indulgences”

- or -

“Indulgencies”

Not spell check obviously – too much grog. So – goodnight.

Craig, damn right! It’s tragic. Absolutely tragic. But what to do about it? We can all say “told you so” because none of us were in favor of invading Iraq. We can point to the same thing happening again with Iran but who’s listening? The fuckwits are marching again, the march to war, and fuck all is going to stop them picking another fight. But again, doesn’t do much good for the Iraqis who are left in pieces. To be honest, life wasn’t a bed of roses for them before we went in, but it sure is a hell of a lot worse now…

Kathy
‘The mistake both Tariq Azis and Saddam made was believing that the west played by all these fancy rules they made up when in actual fact the only rules the west follows is mafia ones.’
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Saddam made the mistake of persecuting his people in full knowledge of the fact that the West would use its fancy rules to justify invasion and full knowledge of their mafia system.
His biggest mistake was to make himself blind to the moral alliance that exists between the Christian and the Muslim world against tyrannny and oppression. He had been deluded into serving Nationalism, in reaction to Western deception and domination of the Middle East.
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Our very own stupider than stupid David Cameron is trying to play a pathetic card, in Europe and in the world, of British Nationalism. What a wanker. Every time there’s a problem, and the Arab Spring is a problem because it leads to conflicts of interests between trading nations, up goes the jingoist flag. Every time the Eurozone has a problem, the same.
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All I can say is that if he has to play these idiotic, but in Saddam Hussain’s case extremely dangerous Nationalistic games, he exposes the UK to this Achilles heel of Nationalism which caught Saddam Hussain. I think somebody probably pays our politicians to take this country down this dangerous road, for their own tactical gain. It is beyond belief that the Houses of Parliament is populated with such ignoramusses that they have to be fed this crap in order to survive, like blind, featherless nestlings.
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Nobody minds the odd self- caused Charlie Chaplin stunt, but why do we have to watch this boring farce of Nationalism being repeated over and over and over again? To make the Zionist/Islamist Freemason New World Order look more sane?

How Melanie Phillips was allowed to propagandize about Iran, amongst other topics, last night on Question Time. Mark Steel hardly got a look in.
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http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1327615675.html
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Q Will a new Director General at ZBC improve matters when Mark Thompson retires at the end of the year? Probably not. I heard Helen Boaden and Caroline Thomson being touted as his replacements on Radio 4 Today. I remember the Death on the Med travesty, the non showing of the DEC appeal after Cast Lead and Caroline Thomson’s attempts to defend the decision, the response or more exactly the non-response of Helen Boaden. Head of News, to complaints about Israel bias in the reporting from Palestine, etc etc. Could also add the holding of the government line in the build up of the Iraq war, the reporting of the student protests )remember the shocking treatment of Jody McIntyre by Ben Brown. The list is endless. Dissent is rarely allowed or heard.

Lesson No 1. Get your first job as a bank chairman’s assistant. From then on, it’s a cert.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hester
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‘Stephen Hester is to get 3.6 million shares in the bank worth £963,000, along with a salary of £1.2m. Sky News learned that RBS’s directors agreed the payout at a board meeting on Wednesday. RBS group chairman Sir Philip Hampton said the company was “aware of the difficulties in trying to reconcile the competing objectives of all our stakeholders”, especially on pay.’

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He will do even better if there is a share price rise on these 3,600,000 shares. The current price is just over 27p

I find your analysis boring and sophomoric.

How the UK Media Legitimise the Idea of a War on Iran

26 January 2012

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The UK media has over the last three months obediently towed the line of western leaders in their increasingly hostile posturing towards Iran.
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Despite their reporting of (to give a few examples) a covert war on Iran, the entry of a US spy drone into Iranian airspace, and the recent assassination of another Iranian nuclear scientist, our media overwhelmingly empathises with the concerns of the US and the UK governments.
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The UK media echo the sentiments of David Cameron (Iran’s chosen path ‘threatens the peace and security of us all’) or William Hague (Iran ‘is continuing to breach United Nations resolutions and refusing to come to meaningful negotiations on its nuclear programme’), whose statements lack sufficient evidence and are based on little more than speculation. Yet the rhetoric goes unquestioned in news reporting.
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The findings of the November 2011 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, showing no evidence of nuclear weapons development, appear of no importance. Julian Borger (the Guardian’s security correspondent), for example, has disclosed that a former IAEA inspector claimed there to be ‘no smoking gun’ in the report, yet this fact has had little effect on his subsequent reporting.
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/..
http://www.newsunspun.org/article/how-the-uk-media-legitimise-the-idea-of-a-war-on-iran

Another good day for the free people of Iraq! 28 killed and 50 injured in another blast…

http://www.presstv.com/detail/223321.html

Apparently Iran’s parliament will debate on Sunday whether to stop exporting oil to EU now rather than May. I have heard loads of people are writing to the Ministry of Oil and demanding it. It is said this could be ratified by end of Sunday!

well said kathy, the largest criminal enterprise, always working with the mafia, are the CIA and Mossad, historical links made during the first and second world war are still intact and used.
Mary, I was nearly sick listening to Question time and its unreal time allocation for its panel of speakers. That siren had it all wrong last night, on drugs as much as on avoiding the question regards to Israeli nukes.
Equally that odious Lib Dem, he did not want to stop speaking, he seems to be out for a front bench job of sorts. The public reactions was opposed to the same same propaganda and did not get much flustered about her tirades, but it was awefull.

@Nexus4
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Certainly this Foust knows nothing about Uzbekistan. I read his shitty article and his conversation with you on Twitter. His arguments are typical for someone who is concerned with geopolitics more and puts forward short and medium term interests before long term. In long term and even in medium term US is going to lose in Central Asia to China and this is inevitable. Policy of sweetening brutal dictatorships will play on Chinese hand and Foust and him alike seems to be least concerned with this at the moment.

@Nexus4
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Yes, and this one from Foust’s shitty article “(was Andijon a consequence of Murray’s crusades?)”
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Is he serious? What a stupid and cynical statement? And this PoS (piece of sh..t) considers himself to be an expert?

Ingo,

I missed the quetion time last night, but my hubby who watched it said exactly what you said.

Jack, “The truth speaks for itself” is still true. If people do not want to listen, what can we do about that?

Ingo The LibDem twerp on QT landed a job in the Foreign Office as a mouthpiece for Hague and Cameron. One of his latest offerings as he doesn’t speak much in the HoC hence his excesses on last night’ platform. He reminds me of the school goody goody who ingratiates himself with those higher up the food chain.
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David Winnick (Walsall North, Labour) To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the 20 states his Department records as having the worst record on human rights.
Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 9 May 2011, c987W)
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Jeremy Browne (Minister of State (South East Asia/Far East, Caribbean, Central/South America, Australasia and Pacific), Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Taunton Deane, Liberal Democrat)
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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Command Paper on Human Rights and Democracy published in March covers 26 countries of concern. These are among the countries where we have the most serious, wide-ranging human rights concerns and where the UK Government are engaged in promoting and protecting human rights. They are (in alphabetical order): Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Chad, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Libya, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
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However, the FCO does not maintain a human rights league table. We have concerns about many countries not included in the Command Paper list. All our embassies and high commissions monitor and raise human rights issues in their host countries. It is important to focus FCO resources where we can make a difference, while continuing to speak out about human rights violations wherever they occur.
~~~~~
I see he worked for Beith who is an ardent Friend of Israel. Note how many others he has worked for. Good at inserting himself obviously using the old boy’s network.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Browne

Day of Mass Action Against War on Iran – USA – February 4
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/p/salsa/event/common/public/index.sjs;jsessionid=1AD7218AE00DFD48437817B31DF897C2-n2?distributed_event_KEY=655

Mary – That nice lady on RT this morning also struggled to get a word in on post-invasion Libya and the ‘necessary’ regime change. To that twerp from the Telegraph who believes we ‘done a grand job’ this:
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“Despite the changes sweeping Libya, violence and bloodshed have not stopped. In shocking revelations, military and security forces stand accused of torturing detainees to death. Rights groups say Libya’s new rulers have not addressed the problem.”
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http://rt.com/news/libya-torture-death-detainees-817/
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Guano – Yes agreed but what power lies behind those ‘blind, featherless nestlings?’

BBC Question Time last night was a Neo-con love fest. On the question regarding Iran’s nuclear program…Unbelievable. Melanie Phillips getting away unchallenged with her vitriolic and dangerous lies, ably supported by The vile Jeremy Browne MP.
Comedian Mark Steel did his best, but as usual, he had to contend with David Dimbleby’s bias toward the zio’ freaks.

Thanks Nuid for the link and this:
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Hands Off Iran and Syria
Protest Saturday 28 January
US Embassy 2pm-4pm
Grosvenor Square London W1
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I have RAF contacts and a ‘Let’s roll’ on Iran will be known to us.
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At least 10,000 children would be murdered if Iran is razed. Can agent Cameron or ‘nodding dog’ Clegg reflect on that horror? No of course they cannot – not with the images of the Iraq massacre in the minds eye of every ‘thinking’ soul in Britain.
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The ‘attack’ on Iran can only be realised as ‘self defense’ – a deception that would take many months – even years to plan. Time thankfully is not on their [the goons] side. The power of intention – that mass mental commitment has worked so far and will continue.

Anyone recollect the cheesy adverts for electric shavers; “hello my name is Victor Kiam”? (circa 1980s)
Back then millionaires used to buy shaver companies and lets us all now about it.
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Zeitgeist;
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Prince Bin Talal, a nephew of the Saudi King Abdullah, buys twitter and stops the bastards tweeting now.
so the advert would go;
,
Hello my name is, his most excellency nephew of the kings, and prince of princes Bin Talal, I heard these yobs tweeting about; equality, justices, homes, jobs, and asking for a living wage, so I bought the company, now the bastards will shut up moaning about all that stupid nonsense. (with a strong Arabic accent of course)
,
Tweeter is to stop tweeting in certain countries/states. Does this include US too? However, we can all be assured that this news will not make it out either, because the prince owns half of the Murdoch “news” empire too.

May I also point out re: Iraq – Compare and Contrast
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3 months in prison (maximum, if he actually serves any jail time at all) for massacre that killed 24 Iraqi civilians.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/marines-light-sentence-iraqi-deaths-sparks-anger/story?id=15442482
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6 months for human rights activist who climbed over a fence at Fort Benning (School of the Americas)
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http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/01/14/1892449/soa-watch-protestor-theresa-m.html
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‘American values’ indeed

And Craig, if you want to know how ‘liberal intervention’ was right, you can read this highly-placed cretin in FP and his ‘How the neocons were right’
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Note that he quotes Dubya speaking at the National Endowment for Democracy – that’s right, the same NED that includes funding the coup in Venezuela as part of its ‘democracy-promoting’ activities.

sorry – http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/23/a_forward_strategy_of_freedom

Yes, Twitter is about to censor tweets.
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“Twitter announced Thursday that it would begin restricting Tweets in specific countries, renewing questions about how the social media platform will handle issues of free speech as it rapidly expands its global user base.
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“Until now, Twitter had to remove a tweet from its global network if it received a takedown request from a government. But the company said in a blog post published Thursday that it now has the ability to selectively block a tweet from appearing to users in one country …”
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Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Twitter+censor+content+some+countries/6061160/story.html

“Tweeter is to stop tweeting in certain countries/states. Does this include US too? However, we can all be assured that this news will not make it out either, because the prince owns half of the Murdoch “news” empire too.”
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It’s all over Twitter since Twitter announced it publicly. And he didn’t “buy” Twitter. He invested in it. As have many others. And ‘The research firm eMarketer estimates Twitter will generate close to $140-million in ad revenue this year (2011) and $260-million in 2012′.

From 38 Degrees
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Have you seen the news today? Stephen Hester, chief of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), has been awarded a bonus worth £1 million.
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We’ve already had to bail RBS out to the tune of billions of pounds. Since then, it’s failed to meet small business lending targets set by the government. Now, we’re expected to cough up £1 million to reward the chief executive for good work.
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Politicians have failed to stop RBS awarding this bonus to Stephen Hester. Today, lots of them are speaking out, asking him to refuse to accept the money. If we all add our names to a huge petition telling Stephen Hester to refuse his bonus, we can shame him into doing the right thing.
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Click here to sign the petition:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/RBS-chief-bonus
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The gap between the have and have-nots in our society is getting bigger all the time. Many wealthy bankers, politicians and businessmen seem to live in a different world from the rest of us. In their world, it’s the done thing to make as much money as possible for yourself while watching others struggle to get by.
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Government ministers have failed to stop this massive payout – so let’s tell Stephen Hester that tens of thousands of us are disgusted at his bonus and demand that he do the right thing.

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When half a million of us spoke out together this time last year, we stopped the sell-off of England’s woodlands. People power worked! Now, together, we can demand that Stephen Hester does the right thing and refuses his million pound bonus. We’ll deliver all the signatures to him at the RBS offices. He might decide that the money means more to him than his sense of what’s right and wrong. Or he might bow to our pressure and refuse to accept the payout.
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One way or the other, we can send this bank boss a clear message – tens of thousands of us believe that it is wrong for him to take this money.

“…he didn’t “buy” Twitter.”
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So they gave him an IOU, and took his $ 300 mill, although are suppose to be making projected $260 mill in 2012. That makes it OK to censor away then. Interesting yardsticks of “human rights”, and “freedoms of expression” we find rammed down into our ears at these times.

Courtenay “But – what else can we do but struggle for some justice under the rules”

Well of course. I was’nt advocating going and blowing stuff up. Since you mention you are a lawyer, has there been any protest from your trade association (bar association?) about the lack of due process accorded to hapless Muslims charged under the terrorism act in the UK? I think it is especially incumbent on lawyers to try and protect the law.

“That makes it OK to censor away then.”
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I didn’t say that. Nor am I ever likely to.
Making statements like, “Prince Bin Talal, a nephew of the Saudi King Abdullah, buys twitter and stops the bastards tweeting now”, is a waste of space on a blog like this. It’s estimated that he bought a 3.57% stake. When he bought it, Twitter was valued at $8.4 billion.
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You’re a loose cannon. Period.

“I didn’t say that. Nor am I ever likely to.
Making statements like,”
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Lack of imagination could be a curse. However to just take on the face value the pulp fiction on demand masqueraded as “news” is another matter.
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$8.4 * 10^9 for a business with a convoluted business model, and little in the way of tangible assets, that is dependant on microbloggers chatting away. This effectively values each blogger at $8,400. sold in part to prince bin Talal at $300 million, is not the point of interest,instead a lecture on heavy weighty blog,….loose cannon ….bollocks….
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When you see me in your blog then get on with the business of classifications, until then …………. fill as applicable (hint; not meant to be complimentary at all)

Jay, indeed, not surprising, is it? I haven’t watched ‘Question Time’ for years, nor really have I listened to ‘Any Questions’ unless by mistake. I wasted a lot of time in the 1980s watching and listening to those entertainment shows. No more. Now, I simply try to keep an eye on power. Everything else is persiflage.

Jon, a post on the Twitter thing which is interesting – I haven’t had time to think about it properly yet:
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“Why Twitter’s new policy is helpful for free-speech advocates”
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http://technosociology.org/?p=678

Jon,
Fair cop, happens to best of us; in our haste to press the submit. Must commend your attention to detail.

Guano

“Saddam made the mistake of persecuting his people in full knowledge of the fact that the West would use its fancy rules to justify invasion and full knowledge of their mafia system.”

They invaded on the pretext of WMD – not persecution of anyone. As for nationalism – was Saddam supposed to side with the enemy? I think you are confusing nationalism with patriotism. Saddam was a Pan-Arabist by the way.

After reading the few first replies here, It surprises me how people are still discussing if Iran involved in Iraq or not.
Yes, Iran is the one who is occupying Iraq now, even the current Iraqi government was formed in Tehran. Last week Iad Allawi accused the US of conceding to Iran and supporting their choice of Al-Maliki to be form Iraqi government, despite the fact he came second in the election and Allawi coalition came first.

The first thing Iran did after the fall of Iraq, is to send it’s secret militia to assassinate almost hundreds Iraqi pilots and military officers whom Iran suffered from during its war with Iraq.

“The first thing Iran did after the fall of Iraq, is to send it’s secret militia to assassinate almost hundreds Iraqi pilots and military officers whom Iran suffered from during its war with Iraq. ……Iad Allawi accused the US of conceding to Iran and supporting”
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The war on Iraq did not do much damage to Iraq, and left the Iraqis alive and well then based on this assessment.
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Surely Ayad Allawi links to those who planned the war that was waged on Iraq, is not forgotten by those Iraqis who were left alive. after a war that destroyed Iraq, and set Iraq back at least a century, contributed to his defeat despite his best efforts in ballot ox stuffing.

While we’re on the subject of Iraq:
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/world/middleeast/iraq-is-angered-by-us-drones-patrolling-its-skies.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all
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The Yanks are flying drones over Iraq, without having sought or obtained permission from the Iraqis, and are soliciting contractors to run the programme for them. It seems they’re just assuming the Iraqis will allow it. I hope they get shot down.
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They also fly helicopters around: ” Often, two contractors armed with machine guns are tethered to the outside of the helicopters.”
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Arrogant, criminal bastards.

@Fedup;
I’m not sure what you are rambling about; where did I see Iraq was not destroyed by the Americans? and how did you labelled my contribution a assessment??

What I wrote above is NEWS. Iad allawi himself uncovered the agreement between the US and Iran on Aljazeera interview last week.
Every Shiat Militia in Iraq is liked to Iran. I myself saw a document on the net sometimes ago to spare Ammar Alhakim (leader of Iraq revolutionary party, the largest mimitia in Iraq) from serving in Iran Army as a cadet, while he was living in Iran.
More evidence?
The person who filmed Saddam Hussain being hanged is Muwaffaq Alrubai’i, labelled as Iraq security advisor, do you know his real name is Not Alrubaii but Tabtbaii and he is Iranian not an Iraqi?

[Duplicate post removed]

Ahmed is speaking the truth. In fact some of the points he made, I wanted to post myself (e.g. the Iraqi airforce pilots that were assassinated by Iranian hit-squads) but chickened out as some of the people here are not that clued up about the real situation in Iraq and I was afraid I would be ridiculed. Iraq is a real country with a lot of complexity that does’nt fit neatly into people’s preconceived ideas based on what the media tells them.

and even more evidence,
,
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there is a secret fatwa somewhere about something!
,
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pathetic lines of -ve propaganda, good enough substitute for fertilizer from a herd of cows.

On Iran, I’ve just caught up with an 12 January article by Robert Kelley – “Nuclear arms programme charge against Iran is no sure thing” on the SIPRI website. It’s worth reading, full text at http://www.sipri.org/media/newsletter/essay/january12 . A useful reminder of the role forged “evidence” had in steamrollering those sceptical of the case for invading Iraq.