Military Rule 121

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I have been against the hosting of the Olympics since the inception. It seemed a vainglorious waste of money, to enable politicians to wave the patriotic flag, even before they gave away all our money to the bankers. Now it is just crazy.

It is also scarey. It has been announced that 13,000 military personnel will be policing the event together with 8,000 private contractors and 12,000 police. There will be battleships on the Thames. Euronews has just quoted a British official as defending this as being in line with what was done in Beijing. But Beijing is not in a democracy. It also claims that London in 2012 will be the “safest place in the world”.

That is “safe” in the same way that Jean Charles De Menezes was safe with all those armed police around.

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121 thoughts on “Military Rule”

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  • mike

    I suspect the military involvement in London 2012 will be a trial run for future deployments in UK cities. Obama is on the verge of signing something very similar into law – the Defence Authorization Act. There will be a lot of interest in and scrutiny of how the military get on with policing the streets of London next year. It wouldn’t surprise me if the MoD subcontracts some of the job to unsavoury private firms.
    Gradually, the military-surveillance complex is getting its feet under the table. The technology, the manpower and the legislation is all in place. Next comes the live field trial. Then…what?

  • craig Post author

    Nuid

    The site is rather like the Tardis. It has its own ideas on what it wants to do about publishing comments, and its logic is impenetrable to humans. I just go with the flow.

  • Clark

    Nuid, Richard Stallman has a campaign about the airport scanners. He points out that they cannot be thoroughly tested for safety as the internals are protected by trade secrecy, so he refuses to be scanned. To fly from the US to UK he changes at Frankfurt.
    .
    My guess is that local managers decide what measures to implement, with some additional bureaucratic layer of “coordination”. The local policies probably get justified by various statistics, like penknives and lighters confiscated, paperwork anomalies detected, etc.

  • River Song (Mod)

    What Craig means is that none of us understand the software, and communication between moderators is patchy at best – a bit like a typical government department, I suppose.

  • Kem Waldron

    Terrorist air threats will be diverted to Scotland during Olympics
    .
    Friday, 16 December 2011 04:28
    .
    Aeroplanes suspected of harbouring a threat from terrorists are to be diverted to a Scottish airport in order to protect London during the Olympic games.
    .
    The news is revealed in a report in today’s Scotsman newspaper which claims that Prestwick airport has been chosen to receive suspect flights.
    .
    According to the paper Strathclyde police are preparing to deploy a round-the-clock presence at the Ayrshire airport in anticipation of dangerous flights being detected by UK intelligence.
    .
    Planes thought to contain bombs or believed to be under threat from hijackers will land at Prestwick instead of London’s Stansted. The cost of footing the police bill will fall on Scottish taxpayers.
    .
    The news follows reports that an extra £41m is to be spent on the London Olympics opening ceremony in order to bolster security. It includes an estimated 800 Scottish police officers who will be drafted in to help their southern counterparts.
    .
    Few people are aware that suspect flights from the west are already diverted to Prestwick with those from the east sent to Stansted. However, throughout the games and the build-up, the Scottish airport is currently the sole airport for these flights.
    .
    More here:

    http://newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-news/3906-terrorist-air-threats-will-be-diverted-to-scotland-during-olympics

  • Andy

    there already is a battleship on the Thames, the HMS Belfast. Dust off it’s six inch guns and it could easily bombard the terrorists. Perhaps a few days of covering fire while the troops get into position would do the job.

  • Photopol

    If they confiscate objects as small as cigarette lighters, surely they should ground those aircraft will all that inflammable fuel?
    .
    We had a British gunboat on the Liffey once (1916) and all it did was destroy O’Connell St. and help create a group of martyrs who were posthumously instrumental in expelling the captain’s bosses.
    .
    Slight change of name is to see if it will provoke the appearance of my avatar which is unusually shy for this time of year.

  • glenn

    Airport full-body scanners: You have a job avoiding them if you come through Schiphol. These machines were originally pushed by former head of “Homeland Security” Michael Chertoff – a corrupt fear-monger who formed a company that offers “consulting services” to corporations that make the things – just in the nick of time, as it happened.
    .
    Within minutes of the mysterious ‘underwear-bomber’ of Xmas 2009 doing his thing, Chertoff was to be found on every news outlet claiming that only the full-body scanners were guaranteed to prevent such a thing – it was that or death for us all (more or less).
    .
    The manufacturers got hundreds of $Millions to rush these things out, it seems we’re just as keen. If you don’t go through the porno-scanner, you get a good groping instead. Maybe aswell, if you’re lucky. After all, the scanners don’t really work.
    .
    Why are we doing all this? Security theatre. Keep people afraid, get them very used to following orders to the letter, whenever someone in an official uniform barks one at you. Get constantly reminded that there’s this terrible threat out there, and only rigid, unquestioning compliance can possibly save you. And don’t forget to support all military action, and the excessive security budgets.
    .

  • nevergiveup

    No Doubt there will be a few opportunities for Camerons friends at Kroll to enjoy the wealth making London Olympics. Who actually pays the troops?

  • vronsky

    “Terrorist air threats will be diverted to Scotland during Olympics”
    .
    Way to go. Elaine C Smith commented after the last episode at Glasgow airport that Scotland is the only place on the planet where you can be on fire and still get a f*** kicking. We don’t like MI5 up here.

  • havantaclu

    Mike:

    ‘Gradually, the military-surveillance complex is getting its feet under the table. The technology, the manpower and the legislation is all in place. Next comes the live field trial. Then…what?’

    They’ve already got their feet well under the table. It’s just that they’ve been wearing civvies until now.

    As Glenn says, ‘Keep people afraid, get them very used to following orders to the letter, whenever someone in an official uniform barks one at you. Get constantly reminded that there’s this terrible threat out there, and only rigid, unquestioning compliance can possibly save you. And don’t forget to support all military action, and the excessive security budgets.’

    By the time of the Olympics, everything will be in place, both in USA and here. Neither this country nor USA have ever had a military coup d’etat, have they? But both USA and UK have supported the regimes when such a coup has taken place; often they have instigated it. A ‘terrorist attack’ would be just up their street; in fact, they may have it planned already, to provide the pretext. And their troops will be close to the centre of government.

    This may sound far-fetched, but it is a possibility.

  • Rocki

    Yes Craig, isn’t it obvious, they are planning a 9/11 and the venue will be Woolwich barracks, already Boris Johnson has banned ALL children from the shooting events, no one wants to see small dead children do they ?

    Off topic, I have been in touch with MP Tom Watson over the McCanns for the last few months ,he gave me an e.mail to send him information which I did.

    I have over the last couple of days witnessed the grovel pantomime at the Leveson Inquiry apologizing to the McCanns.

    I thought you might like to know I have informed every British journalist today including Tom Watson that the diary which seems to have hi-jacked the Leveson Inquiry, which can now only be described as a circus was NEVER in the hands of the PJ ,in fact it NEVER was in Portugal at all !

    I have suggested to ALL those who claim to want the truth to investigate the McCanns claims along with Clarence Mitchell’s. Today, now the truth has come out (see link) David Leigh, Nick Davies and Tom Watson , Martin Brunt and several other so called journalists have now fallen silent.

    http://themurdochempireanditsnestofvipers.blogspot.com/2011/12/leveson-inquiry-exclusive-mccann-diary.html

    So Craig my question is this, the Leveson Inquiry, is it just a platform for the McCanns to destroy Portugal because from where I am sitting it looks that way. The libel trial begins in February and Gonçalo Amaral now has plenty of amo after today to prove in court the British media have refused to publish the truth and instead have accepted the McCanns LIED under oath about a diary that was NEVER in the hands of the Portuguese so how could they possible have leaked it to the News of The World.

    I have screen shots of all reporters I have tweeted today with this link and I shall be in Portugal during the trial with this information and British journalism will be exposed for what it is. I and many others will not let Maddie or the PJ be stomped on by the teflon couple.

  • Frazer

    Hopefully I shall be in some god forsaken war torn country defusing bombs and mines rather than risk getting hit on the head by some oik for staggering out of a London pub pissed ( after a hard day selling newspapers ) and then getting a load of lead pumped into me for having the audacity to use the Tube whilst carrying a backpack.
    I shall also avoid flying into any London airports on commercial jets in case one of the thousand or so American security personell mistakes my BA Airbus for an Iranian suicide plane and fires a missile at me..
    In fact I am seriously thinking about booking a holiday in Mogadishou for the duration of the Olyimpics and driving around town in a jeep painted with the American flag…something tells me I would be a lot safer…

  • Mary

    A good example of the complete lack of moral fibre and ethics possessed by an American judge and attorney who happens to be the current Attorney General.
    .
    Attorney General Holder Tied to OKC Bombers
    December 16, 2011 admin
    .
    By The Staff at AFP
    .
    Eric Holder, current attorney general of the United States, managed an FBI operation that provided explosives to Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols just prior to the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, according to official documents released during the ongoing investigation into government foreknowledge of the supposed terrorist attack.
    /….
    .
    http://americanfreepress.net/?p=1885

  • Frazer

    Mary…the bomb used in the Alfred P Murrah building attack was comprised solely of ANFO, Amyl Nitrate Fuel Oil, a mixture of commonly available chemicals and Diesel Fuel…a recipie that has been in use since the early days of the Irish Republican Army…interesting article though and taanks for posting, but just goes to show that if the FBI had supplied both of them with explosives in a sting operation, they did not think to ask for the detonation devices as well…most of the stuff available at that time such as PE14, was completely useless without a detonator and the purchase of them was strictly controlled..basically you can throw a kilo of this stuff on a log fire and all the result will be is a rather messy goo..

  • wendy

    “It also claims that London in 2012 will be the “safest place in the world”. ”
    .
    .
    not to mention the military style uniforms for the ‘volunteers’ and olympic ‘ambassadors’ ..
    .
    .
    nothing has been left to chance .. the usa as always are upfront about what they’re doing .. and the british .. ah well ..

  • nuid

    Oh thanks, Craig, I am aware of the software glitches.
    When I said “Can anyone answer my question?” I was talking about the apparent illogicality of how my friend was treated by airport “security”.
    .
    River Song (Mod) and Clark and Glenn, thanks also.
    .
    “Terrorist air threats will be diverted to Scotland during Olympics”
    .
    Lovely. Do they think Scotland will be empty or something?

  • nuid

    “and driving around town in a jeep painted with the American flag…something tells me I would be a lot safer…”
    .
    Frazer, you’ll be at least as safe as the Americans who went abroad after 9/11 with Canadian flags sewed to their backpacks.

  • glenn

    Nuid: Re. Americans with Canadian flags… funnily enough, I met quite a few of them in Cuba. Even when called on it, they insisted they were Canadian, even though their accents were totally at odds with such a claim.

  • anno

    US troops are going to leave Iraq overland, according to yesterday’s news on the BBC. That probably means shuffling up to the Syrian border and taking Assad by force. A little PR leaving present, a little doggy do behind the sofa to remind us of the generosity of quwata Amriki, US force. A little pooper-scooper to thank the Saudis for bailing out Western banks on low to zero interest rates. A little favour to Russia and China that their commercial interests in Syria are safe, to compensate them for Libya. A little back-hander to Israel for securing them the Golan Heights and staunching aid to Hezbullah. A little memo to Iran that they could attack them and the whole of the Sunni Muslim world would agree, because of the euphoria at preserving peace in Syria. I don’t think so. Like Billy Joe, the USA never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits please.

    My favourite song, by Bobbie Gentry, from when I used to listn to music. Ode to Billy Joe. It took weeks for us to understand the lyrics.
    It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
    I was out choppin’ cotton and my brother was balin’ hay
    And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
    And Mama hollered out the back door “y’all remember to wipe your feet”
    And then she said “I got some news this mornin’ from Choctaw Ridge”
    “Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge”

    And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
    “Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please”
    “There’s five more acres in the lower forty I’ve got to plow”
    And Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
    Seems like nothin’ ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
    And now Billy Joe MacAllister’s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

    And Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
    Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
    And wasn’t I talkin’ to him after church last Sunday night?
    “I’ll have another piece of apple pie, you know it don’t seem right”
    “I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge”
    “And now you tell me Billie Joe’s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge”

    And Mama said to me “Child, what’s happened to your appetite?”
    “I’ve been cookin’ all morning and you haven’t touched a single bite”
    “That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today”
    “Said he’d be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way”
    “He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge”
    “And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin’ off the Tallahatchie Bridge”

    A year has come ‘n’ gone since we heard the news ’bout Billy Joe
    And Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
    There was a virus going ’round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring
    And now Mama doesn’t seem to wanna do much of anything
    And me, I spend a lot of time pickin’ flowers up on Choctaw Ridge

    And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge

  • Mary

    It’s OK everyone. In the manner of other warmomgers before him, Cameron is doing God. No irony.
    .
    16 December 2011
    .
    David Cameron says the UK is a Christian country
    David Cameron called himself a “committed” but “vaguely practising” Christian
    .
    David Cameron has said the UK is a Christian country “and we should not be afraid to say so”.
    .
    In a speech in Oxford on the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, the prime minister called for a revival of traditional Christian values to counter Britain’s “moral collapse”.
    .
    He said “live and let live” had too often become “do what you please”.
    .
    The PM said it was wrong to suggest that standing up for Christianity was “somehow doing down other faiths”.
    /..
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16224394
    ~~~

    I believe the poison Gove recently ordered that a copy of the King James bible be sent to every school in the country.

  • Mary

    O/T Samira Hassassian was a beautiful and clever woman. The bastards in Kensington Green hastened her death. She was five years younger than Hitchens about whom all the fuss is being made but led a useful and good life and receives little mention.
    .
    I will be joining the protest outside the Israeli Embassy there on December 27th in memory of those killed in Gaza three years ago in the greater shoah called Cast Lead. I will also remember Samira. RIP.
    .
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/16/palestinian-wife-forced-jerusalem-cancer-envoy-claims

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