Sometimes the horror of the abuse of power in the world just seems to close in, and I want to run away from the toil of blogging against it. To rage against the dying of the light is indeed noble; but also energy-sapping, and the light dies anyway.
Where do I begin? Not content with giving over the entire NHS budget to be plundered for private profit, the police service is now being privatised. The use of coercive force against its citizenry is the ultimate sanction of the state and must in a civilised society only be exercised with utmost restraint and control. Of course, in the last twenty years the British and US states have moved fast towards the use of fatal force against foreigners for profit, in their wild embrace of companies of mercenary killers. So while shocking, it is hardly surprising that politicians seek to find profit for their paymasters in use of state force against their own citizens. It makes you wonder whether anything the government can do would be so shocking as to wake the public from the lull of Simon Cowell or the Sun on Sunday. I fear in truth they could shoot asylum seeker children on the streets without the bulk of the population lifting a finger.
Then we have Obama on his knees before AIPAC, accepting his marching orders and promising that the US will participate if Israel decides to attempt to launch Armageddon. Are there no US taxpayers out there, unbesotted by religous fanatacism, who find it humiliating to have their national leader so obviously powerless and crawling before the Israeli lobby? Given that it is the US which funds Israel, and not vice versa, it is all very peculiar. Or is it simply that the US taxpayer funds Israel, but Israel funds US politicians, thus Israel is simply a de facto pimp in the diversion of taxpayers money into politicians’ pockets?
We then have the very largely state owned Natwest Bank increasing mortgage rates on households whose real incomes were already falling, with all the media politely reporting that this is due to higher rates Natwest is having to pay for inter-bank borrowing. Which is to ignore the tens of billions free cash Natwest has received through first bailout then quantitative easing, and their recent access to effectively as much as they wanted from the European Central Bank at just 1%.
I am not a fan of Putin; the real democratic deficit in Russia comes not from the bussing and vote-rigging, without which Putin would have probably scraped over 50% anyway, but in the lack of media access for the opposition and the use of state resources effectively to campaign for Putin. But how different is that from what happens in the UK anyway? How much airtime do voices against the war in Afghanistan get? Or against the bank bailouts?
One cheerful moment, on last night’s Newsnight. Jeremy Paxman actually challenged the Israeli Ambassador, who seemed keen to attack Iran, over Israel’s nuclear weapons. First time in years I heard such a thing on the BBC.
Then when the Israeli Ambassador replied “Israel is not the one threatening to attack other countries” Paxman replied “You just discussed attacking Iran”.
All of which is entirely obvious, but almost totally absent from broadcast media.
The light is fading fast and not just on the domestic scene. This from today. A small headline in a local rag that shunned Craig during his campaing and gave him no support, despite his spending on ads. All male Dardan security, led by an ex chief constable for Norfolk, is going for a slice of council tax.
No mention of costs to us, the comments are a hoot.
What our police seems to forget is that we all have the powers to conduct a citizens arrest, Peter Thatchel clearly showed that the powers exist, still.
And then there are the powers that have made Britain what it is today, to conduct civil non violent disobedience, should it be necessary.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/tell_us_what_you_think_should_security_guards_in_norfolk_be_given_policing_powers_1_1228485
Global vested interest pulling Obama’s strings, need Israel and his little satan in charge, as their attack dog, until the list of countries is ticked off and Somalia, Syria and Iran are vasalls to the great Satan’s, ready to be ‘developed’, this general lawlessness will not abide.
This excellent nuggett drawn up by Mark G. yesterday from wikileaks latest releases shows us exactly why Bibi is so vociferously throwing his weight about at the AIPAC, he’s worried about Israels population and its lack of support for wars and aggression, they had enough of it. This is why US forces are in Israel, its falling apart, rotting from inside and for the same reason we up our policing budgets and make due with cardboard cut outs come alive, Israel is worried about its internal security.
“Air Force Intel guy is most
obsessed with the challenge of taking out Syria’s ballistic missile
capabilities and chem weapons. With Israel right there and the regime
facing an existential crisis, he sees that as a major complication to any
military intervention.”
With China and Russia looking on and wondering who will be next, one as yet cannot see an end to it.
@Komodo Ingo has left the building and nevermind, his equally appropriate other self has entered, and yes, the flights are as regular, still, but most would have left for the theatre now.
A gem from Dickens…’It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way’
Mindfulness is awesome
This Israel crap is not
Then we have Obama on his knees before AIPAC, accepting his marching orders and promising that the US will participate if Israel decides to attempt to launch Armageddon.
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Craig, I think you are being unfair here.
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Obama has done no such thing. Obama has stated repeatedly that the US will not attack Iran unless Iran acquires a weapon or indisputable evidence from the IAEA is presented that they are manufacturing a weapon or have a weapons development programme. He even said in his address to AIPAC that Israel must learn to defend itself – that’s was a direct stab at Netanyahu’s incessant calls for the US to attack Iran. These are significant positions from the POTUS.
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Israel cannot be under any illusions about the US response to a unilateral attack on Iran. Obama knows that the current Israeli government is a busted flush and certainly not worth getting the US involved in another un-winnable war for.
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Of course, Obama may be gone after this year and Rick “Bomb Iran” Santorum or Mitt “Bomb Iran” Romeny may be POTUS. Both of whom happen to be religious nutjobs.
Craig, I empathise with you entirely particularly as one who has family in Iran and is deeply worries for them and that wonderful and beautiful country. Wil they receive compenssation from the US / Israel when their homes if their homes are destroyed.
I console myself (but only just) that a society from which the rose originated, the poetry of Firdausi was written and has not initiated a war for over two hundred and fifty years will outlast two fundamentalist states (U.S. + Israel).
It would be well to remember that the Iranian Embassy in Paris during WW11 acted to help jews escape the nazis by issuing them with passports to enable their freedom – see Milani – Persian Spinx.
And on the Russian election how many candidates will the U.S. ‘coronation’ have to choose from and is there, as they say, a ‘cigarette paper….’
Apologies if this is a ‘ramble’ but you are an ‘oasis’ in a veritable desert.
All true, but one of the most distressing aspects of all this is that the majority of the people – if they can be bothered to vote at all – vote FOR the very people that are causing all this. How can anyone think these filthy Tories could ever be good for the country, the NHS in particular, or working people in general? Unless one is rich, greedy selfish and heartless, what possible reason could one have to vote for them? Yet if there were another general election next week, we’d probably have the same results. Maybe the Tories would get an outright majority.
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It’s said that general elections are a national IQ test. We failed ours in 2010.
FUNNY PECULIAR ; )
Exposure to Radical Evil, Absolute Evil – the evil of the camps, of illegal war, genocide and torture-to-death can be paralyzing. We are all so exposed today, via the internet.
The only way to avoid succumbing either to that evil, or to despair, is by a) strong bonds of friendship to a community around us – not being isolated, or b) the experience of divinity – the numenous – ‘God’ if you will. Or, even better, both.
Asked if he believed in God, Jung replied “I don’t believe. I know.” What did he know? – ‘Face to Face,’ interview with CG Jung. On video, on the internet. – Part 1 of 4
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLJsiQ4h3fY
Asked if he believed in God, Joseph Campbell replied, “I don’t believe. I know.” “I have love, hatred, anger, malice – I’d like to punch the guy’s jaw. These are different divinities within me.” – Power of Myth, Mythos. –
If we are isolated – on the internet perhaps! ; ) – then another form of community is with those great figures from the past who worked so hard to make the world a better place. Some of whom are very funny indeed.
Here’s one. –
Howard Zinn is wonderful to watch on video. He is on fire with the truth and he has a great sense of humour. A wonderful combination. – Veterans for Peace Convention 2004 –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWH25ZLeG9Q
More – comments page two for “Bin Laden’s Body Taken to US: Stratfor,” by The Journal, 4th March 2012, ICH –
– http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30718.htm
And then there’s Monty Python. No, really!
USUK Empire Neo-Con Nazism made mainstream by ‘Biggus Dickus,’ (of Wome on the Potomac) — Big Oil tool and US Torture promoter – brought to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Aden, Syria, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Poland, Lithuania and many, many more —
– “You lucky bastard” – Monty Python – Life of Brian –
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TPQ0DEVaEk#t=0m40s
Downwiththisosrtofthing
He said this:
I will only use force when the time and circumstances demand it. And I know that Israeli leaders also know all too well the costs and consequences of war, even as they recognize their obligation to defend their country.
We all prefer to resolve this issue diplomatically. Having said that, Iran’s leaders should have no doubt about the resolve of the United States — just as they should not doubt Israel’s sovereign right to make its own decisions about what is required to meet its security needs.
I have said that when it comes to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, I will take no options off the table, and I mean what I say. That includes all elements of American power: a political effort aimed at isolating Iran, a diplomatic effort to sustain our coalition and ensure that the Iranian program is monitored, an economic effort that imposes crippling sanctions and, yes, a military effort to be prepared for any contingency.
Iran’s leaders should understand that I do not have a policy of containment; I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. And as I have made clear time and again during the course of my presidency, I will not hesitate to use force when it is necessary to defend the United States and its interests.
perhaps morse significantly and less reported, he also said this:
Four years ago, I stood before you and said that, “Israel’s security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable.” That belief has guided my actions as president. The fact is my administration’s commitment to Israel’s security has been unprecedented. Our military and intelligence cooperation has never been closer. Our joint exercises and training have never been more robust. Despite a tough budget environment, our security assistance has increased every single year. We are investing in new capabilities. We’re providing Israel with more advanced technology — the types of products and systems that only go to our closest friends and allies. And make no mistake: We will do what it takes to preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge — because Israel must always have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threat.
This isn’t just about numbers on a balance sheet. As a senator, I spoke to Israeli troops on the Lebanese border. I visited with families who’ve known the terror of rocket fire in Sderot. And that’s why, as president, I have provided critical funding to deploy the Iron Dome system that has intercepted rockets that might have hit homes and hospitals and schools in that town and in others. Now our assistance is expanding Israel’s defensive capabilities, so that more Israelis can live free from the fear of rockets and ballistic missiles. Because no family, no citizen, should live in fear.
And just as we’ve been there with our security assistance, we’ve been there through our diplomacy. When the Goldstone report unfairly singled out Israel for criticism, we challenged it. When Israel was isolated in the aftermath of the flotilla incident, we supported them. When the Durban conference was commemorated, we boycotted it, and we will always reject the notion that Zionism is racism.
When one-sided resolutions are brought up at the Human Rights Council, we oppose them. When Israeli diplomats feared for their lives in Cairo, we intervened to save them. When there are efforts to boycott or divest from Israel, we will stand against them. And whenever an effort is made to delegitimize the state of Israel, my administration has opposed them. So there should not be a shred of doubt by now — when the chips are down, I have Israel’s back.
You are indeed an oasis Craig and it is difficult not to despair at the corruption greed and hypocrisy of Whitehall.As to Jeremy Bellusman, he showed his true colours over Iraq,he is a lickspittle gatekeeper for the Brainwashing Corp: and it is no better over at I.T.V. where Jon”pure as the driven”Snow has been lachrymosing over torture in Syria on Ch:4 News with no mention of Abu Ghraib, Baha Mousa, or Torturing Tony’s renditions to Libya, Bagram, Guantanamo, you name it.Privatising the Police,how about privatising the Royals that would save the taxpayer a few million!Is the corruption worse in Russia? Why not ask the Chicago boys who went in at the beginning of the 90 s, I thought that was what was intended! I think Yesanyahoo and Obomba are in lockstep over Iran but the little people will,as usual, have to sweat it out.Pity if its to be WW3 I’m just getting an asparagus bed prepared on my allotement. We need this blog of sanity Craig don’t let the bastards grind you down.
Craig, as a politician Obama does what they all do, say things that the audience wants to hear.
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It’s the between the lines stuff that is more significant as I alluded to. Obama’s administration has been very consistent about the a US attack on Iran being done only to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. At the same time the US Department of Defense, the Pentagon, the CIA, the NSA and over half-a-dozen other US agencies have publicly confirmed (i.e. deliberately made the point) that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons. QED.
It seems Israel has been buying influence in the US, at least with the media.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/tapping-the-israeli-embassy/
Stephen Walt describes the influence of the Israel Lobby as classic interest politics: the small minority (a minority of American Jews who are blood-and-soil ethno-nationalists allied with a subset of evangelical christians trying to bring about the second coming) who care passionately have disproportionate influence as most don’t care very much.
The GOP recently passed a religious Zionist resolution calling for Greater Israel:
http://www.lobelog.com/gop-officially-endorses-one-state-solution/
It simple Craig, just about every American Politician, excepting Ron Paul and Kucinich are on their knees to the Israel/Jewish Lobby AIPAC. It’s not just about the corrupting money Org. Jewry/AIPAC dole out, it’s the climate of fear they generate through the Mass Media they largely own and control. And make no mistake, these zios use it quite liberally when Polly-ti-shooons stray off the zionist point and exact revenge through smears and intimidation in that very media they own. This scares the Polls into absolute submission. I no longer have a Country – ZOG – We have a Zionist Occupied Govt. I’ve no other way to say it. Peter
Apropos the efficacy (or otherwise), of the British Journalist, and his/her ability,to
exercise their discipline, unhindered, I believe Humbert Wolfe summed it all up, didn’t he…..”You cannot hope to bribe or twist (thank God!) the British journalist. But, seeing what the man will do unbribed, there’s no occasion to.”……:-)
What does he mean: “I have Israel’s back” It isn’t even parsable. It’s more like he has Israel’s scourge on his back, and he rather seems to enjoy it, pleads for more. All the gossip is that he’s a front-man for the Chicago mafia, through and through, owned, loyal servant of organised crime, a good old media stereotype; if that’s all he is he’d be acceptable. And he’s the ‘good-guy’ supposedly, what a choice for the American people, who think he’s some sort of redistributive socialist and despise him on that specious principle.
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Israel is not pretty to contemplate, neither is the United States of Ignorance, where killing a few million ‘Ay-rabs’ is acceptable to keep their monster-truck civilian tanks running another half-dozen years, killing hordes their own citizens in the May 2001 attacks on the twin towers in New York, United Foodstuffs doesn’t faze them in the least either.
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Yet oil is just an added bonus for the politician’s corporate chums, serving the whims of the paranoiac terminably insecure short-lived apartheid state of Judaized Mongolians and Khazars posing as semites, whilst killing off in vast numbers the true semites, the Palestinians and Bedouins whose ancestors have inhabited the Palestinian terrain since the holy works of fiction on which these bogus Israeli’s fantastic claims to that land are based, were still fresh from the fevered brows of their highly imaginative mass-media of the day, the scribes who were making it all up as they went along to favour whatever faction or cult they served. It must be so, it is Written.
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So the world’s policeman is a bent copper on the make. Is it the world’s problem or an American problem? Does anyone anywhere think that with Israel, disarmed, neutered and rolled back to borders however insecure, acceptable to the dispossessed Palestinians and with restitution for lost homes, shops, businesses, land and way of life – all desirable things – paid, we won’t still have a problem of America and Americans living within their means and accepting their relatively insignificant place in the world? Democracy as we’ve practiced it for centuries in the west is inherently corrupt, dysfunctional, but I still say all we can do is address this disgraceful situation in our own country, and each in their own respective countries, the solution for us starts with the banishing of the Lib-Lab-Con puppet show, to the pages of history. A parliament of independent non-partisan representatives, drawn at random from the electorate, annually replaced anew, as propounded by the Levellers of old at Putney seems to recommend itself, such far-thinking ideals (presuming women weren’t excluded) were dashed by the bloodstained butcher and megalomaniacal religious nutcase Oliver Cromwell and the aristocracy rose more powerful and ruthless than ever before and lord it over us to this day.
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We can’t influence either America or Israel, they’re beyond rationality and reason, but sorting our domestic scum and apologists is well within our rights and our means.
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What does he mean: “I have Israel’s back” It isn’t even parsable. It’s more like he has Israel’s scourge on his back, and he rather seems to enjoy it, pleads for more. All the gossip is that he’s a front-man for the Chicago mafia, through and through, owned, loyal servant of organised crime, a good old media stereotype; if that’s all he is he’d be acceptable. And he’s the ‘good-guy’ supposedly, what a choice for the American people, who think he’s some sort of redistributive socialist and despise him on that specious principle.
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Israel is not pretty to contemplate, neither is the United States of Ignorance, where killing a few million ‘Ay-rabs’ is acceptable to keep their monster-truck civilian tanks running another half-dozen years, killing hordes their own citizens in the May 2001 attacks on the twin towers in New York, United Foodstuffs doesn’t faze them in the least either.
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Yet oil is just an added bonus for the politician’s corporate chums, serving the whims of the paranoiac terminably insecure short-lived apartheid state of Judaized Mongolians and Khazars posing as semites, whilst killing off in vast numbers the true semites, the Palestinians and Bedouins whose ancestors have inhabited the Palestinian terrain since the holy works of fiction on which these bogus Israeli’s fantastic claims to that land are based, were still fresh from the fevered brows of their highly imaginative mass-media of the day, the scribes who were making it all up as they went along to favour whatever faction or cult they served. It must be so, it is Written.
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So the world’s policeman is a bent copper on the make. Is it the world’s problem or an American problem? Does anyone anywhere think that with Israel, disarmed, neutered and rolled back to borders however insecure, acceptable to the dispossessed Palestinians and with restitution for lost homes, shops, businesses, land and way of life – all desirable things – paid, we won’t still have a problem of America and Americans living within their means and accepting their relatively insignificant place in the world? Democracy as we’ve practiced it for centuries in the west is inherently corrupt, dysfunctional, but I still say all we can do is address this disgraceful situation in our own country, and each in their own respective countries, the solution for us starts with the banishing of the Lib-Lab-Con puppet show, to the pages of history. A parliament of independent non-partisan representatives, drawn at random from the electorate, annually replaced anew, as propounded by the Levellers of old at Putney seems to recommend itself, such far-thinking ideals (presuming women weren’t excluded) were dashed by the bloodstained butcher and megalomaniacal religious nutcase Oliver Cromwell and the aristocracy rose more powerful and ruthless than ever before and lord it over us to this day.
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We can’t influence either America or Israel, they’re beyond rationality and reason, but sorting our domestic scum and apologists is well within our rights and our means.
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It looks as if pre-moderation is taking place, that shouldn’t be necessary to keep on top of the spam-bots. Is Craig Murray still around after this brave post? We insist you post a picture of yourself, vertical and holding a recently dated newspaper.
@Boniface Goncourt: As pithy ,pointed and pertinent, a piece of prose, that
one could wish to ponder…!
If Israel attacked Syria from the rear do you think Greece would help?
Thanks Craig.
Please feel free to weep.
http://www.bbc.co.uk
http://www.presstv.ir (note the health and arts section at the bottom)
Big Mac anyone…
Some light relief please.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIfu2A0ezq0
Jay
How about “Cultural Nationalism”
Israel’s “claim” to Palestine is based entirely on War Crimes and GENOCIDE.
It is UNFAIR and WRONG to compare Israel to the Nazis.
The CORRECT comparison is Nazis to Israelis:
The Nazis copied the Jewish “Manual” point by point
KILL THE SICK and CRIPPLED
Numbers c.5 v.2-4
KILL HOMOSEXUALS
Leviticus c.20 v.13 well, really the whole chapter
KILL ALL DISSIDENTS:
Exodus c.32 v.27
Numbers c.11 v.1-2
Numbers c.16 all
Numbers c.21 v.5-6
Numbers v.26 v.10
KILL anyone who engages in “DIVERSITY” or “INTEGRATION”
Numbers v25 v.4-8
Deuteronomy c.14 v.2
DEHUMANIZE and then EXTERMINATE ALL NON-MEMBERS:
Numbers c.21 v.03 Canaanites
Numbers c.21 v.24 Amorites
Numbers c.21 v.33-35 Bashan
Numbers c.31 all Midianites
Numbers c.32 v. more Amorites
Deuteronomy c.2 v.34 People of Heshbon
Deuteronomy c.3 v.6 really the whole chapter. threescore cities
Joshua c.12 A list of victims of Israeli GENOCIDE
Where are THEIR “holocaust” Memorials!
OCCUPY YOUR VICTIM’S DWELLINGS/LAND
Numbers c.21 v.25
Numbers c.32 v.39
Numbers c.33 v.53
(just to name a FEW)
GENOCIDE CODIFIED IN THEIR RELIGION
Numbers c.33 v.31-34
Deuteronomy c.7 v.2
Deuteronomy c.12 v.28-30
Deuteronomy c.20 v.11-16
TERRORISM CODIFIED IN THEIR RELIGION
Deuteronomy c.2 v.2
Deuteronomy c.7 v.1
Jews SELF-anointed “The CHOSEN People of GOD”
Nazis SELF-anointed “The GENETICALLY CHOSEN People of God”.
Completely understand the feeling Craig. Hearing and watching the atrocities being committed by Assad’s forces in Syria now i would love to believe that a NATO military intervention would save civilians, end the torture and bring democracy to Syria. I know, though, from what’s happenend in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya that the US and it’s allies never end torture or murders where they intervene – they either carry them out (Iraq and Afghanistan under Bush) or use proxies to carry them out (Iraq and Afghanistan El Salvador option death squads), or let some other extremists like some of the extreme jihadists among the rebel militias in Libya run riot fighting one another and torturing and killing people on mere suspicion of being Gaddafi supporters (some of their victims in Bani Walid apparently including rebels who fought against Gaddafi).
US forces in Iraq did many of the same things the Syrian military are doing now in their assaults on cities like Fallujah and Samarra (targeting ambulances, targeting civilians with snipers, refusing to let aid in, seizing hospitals and dragging patients away to be tortured)
If the US and its allies really cared about civilians being killed they wouldn’t be continuing to arm the Bahraini, Saudi, Egyptian and Yemeni dictatorships as they kill and torture civilians in Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen, which means their apparent concern about Syrian civilians is likely just propaganda for another move in the global Great Game.
Given all this i’m very depressed about Syria because i believe it’s going to continue be a bloodbath whichever side is winning if it continues to be decided by force, with the only question being whether Sunni extremists will murder and torture Alawites or whether Alawites will contine to murder and torture Sunnis.
Some kind of power sharing deal to allow a transition to democratic elections might avoid this – i don’t know – but neither side seems very interested in that. It’s already led to fighting in Lebanon and could end up with civil war in Iraq again too.
Well spoken Glenn, its more of a case of genetic masochism. But votes are rigged, Blackburn being a case in hand. sadly our electoral commission has no real powers and is dependent on politicians for their existence and continual funding.
Offering an alternative and setting up a campaign takes more than one candidate to make it a Tango and looking at the response one gets on political blogs for an alternative to the three main stooges/parties, then this leaves not much hope for it ever to change.
Unless we are prepared to be an essential part for this change, we are partial to what is going on, by association.
Maybe when the weather improves, moods will improve and change, just in case, start saving up some dosh for such eventuality.
An alliance of Independents for peace must be worth a try, if not for us, lets do it for our grandchildren.
Any rich donors out there?….
What does he mean: “I have Israel’s back” It isn’t even parsable.
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It’s originally from basket ball. If you pass the ball then say “I’ve got your back” it means go ahead and attack, I’ll be behind supporting you. Sounds ominous, but…. it’s also just a general street/slang expression that means to look after someone or their interests. e.g. You might say to someone “can you look after these stolen mobile phones?”, to which your friend can respond “Sure, I’ve got your back.”, meaning “yes, you can trust me.”.
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As usual with Obama, one sentence, two meanings. I personally think his word-craft is very canny in that he is capable of projecting different messages to different groups with exactly the same words.
What a load of bollocks you talk Mr. Cameron?
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For a tosspot in charge of a shaky coalition government, Mr. Cameron has come up with echoes of Tony Emily Bliar and his lies about Saddam’s missiles landing here in forty five minutes. Now Davy has come up with his version of forty five minutes; “Iran is planning an ‘inter-continental nuclear weapon’,” although the source of this divination in all probability is Mystique Meg, but to keep his sources secret Guardian (the paper that cheered the Iraq war) is attributing it to Kim Darroch whom reportedly has held a one hour seance, during which probably the winning lottery numbers may have been part of the discussion too.
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This is coming on the back of the last handy work of the same bunch of incompetents who went and banned the EU from buying any more oil from Iranians come September. This resulting in Iran stopping any sales of oil to UK immediately, in the current market of uncertainties pushing the price of oil higher, which is made even higher at the pump due to the coming hikes on fuel taxes.
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The fact that Davy may be experiencing a psychotic episode becomes clearer with his remarks denoted at the end of the farticle; “Iran should not be seen as “a mini superpower” but as “a disastrous country” with mass unemployment and a dysfunctional economy.”
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This leaving the reader perplexed at the disaster of a country planning to build Intercontinental Missiles to be rained on Europe!!!!!
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Can these conflicting feelings in his water be due to the little infection he may perhaps have picked up on the horse riding episode?
“… and the light dies anyway.”
No, it doesn’t , as long as bloggers like you keep at it.
Having read the comments before posting, I appreciate that some may have good grounds for disagreeing with your statements. Fine and well! The entire point.
I keep wondering, on reading your blog, why the UK mainstream media (of all colours) fail to do their (avowed) job: present facts, opinions from various quarters, and let the reader decide, once reasonably/fully informed of the issues.
Don’t succumb to fatigue, please.
William Chandler – I think you’re being unfair to many Jews and pretty much (and i hate using this term as it’s mis-used so often to refer to anyone criticising the Israeli government or military) anti-semitic.
There are lots of Jews whose beliefs have nothing in common with those you’ve ascribed to them in that post, just as there are many Muslims who believe parts of the Quran and Hadith only applied to the seventh century Middle East, not the present.
There are even many Israelis who don’t believe (or behave) anything like that – e.g the historian Avi Shlaim is one among many and there are even Israeli Jews who bring food and medicines to Palestinians and stand in front of Palestinian or Israeli houses to try to stop the bulldozers, or help them rebuild their homes if they are destroyed, plus the Israeli human rights group B’T Selem and many many others.
Ascribing the views and actions of some extremists to everyone who is of the same religion is like claiming all atheists are Stalinists because Stalin was an atheist. It’s prejudice.
Israel certainly has no claim to the whole of Palestine, no right to the West Bank and no right to blockade Gaza, nor refuse to negotiate with one half of the elected Palestinian government, nor do it’s forces have the right to kill Palestinian civilians or children any more than Palestinian terrorist groups have any right to target Israeli civilians. It does have some claim to a right to exist as a state inside the 1967 borders though, based on the UN Resolution that approved a Jewish and an Arab state alongside one another within the former British Mandate of Palestine.
DownWithThisSortOfThing
“I have Israel’s back” It isn’t even parsable.
All his sucking up has given him chapped lips, these were playing havoc on his mind and his parsing.
Below from the ex Senator for South Dakota, the American Palestinian Jim Abourezk to Jonathan Marcus, the unfeeling and arrogant BBC Defence Editor.
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Ref the Medialens editors’ latest piece about Israeli bombing Osirak in 1981 and their correspondence with Jonathan Marcus.
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Latest Alert: Bombing Osirak, Burying UN Resolution 487
http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=671:bombing-osirak-burying-un-resolution-487-an-exchange-with-the-bbcs-jonathan-marcus&catid=25:alerts-2012&Itemid=9
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Re: Response to latest alert
Posted by The Editors on March 6, 2012, 7:16 pm, in reply to “Response to latest alert”
Dear Mr. Marcus:
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I was sent a copy of your exchange with Media Lens with respect to Israel’s plan to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. You are to be congratulaed in sliding out from under any responsibility at all for promoting an attack by Israel with your writing. I’m reminded of Judith Miller’s prolific work which provided a lot of impetus for Bush to attack Iraq, but for which she denied any credit. If you have indeed, as you say, seen war close up, then you might have an obligation to ease up on such writings that “pile on” to the many others here in the US who have some sort of interest in seeing Iran removed from the Middle East. Frankly, many of us here in America are frightened that President Obama might bend to the pressures of Bibi Netanyahu and Israel’s lobby and get us involved in another war over there. I’ve tried to count the number of wars in which the US has been an active participant over the last several decades, but it’s a mostly depressing exercise. In short, we’ve had enough of wars of choice, of the blood spilled, of the money wasted, of the broken bodies that make it home, and of the trauma with which the families of soldiers must deal with when those still alive make it home. I would be most grateful that, if you want to put some luster on your writing career, that you find another subject other than pushing the US into another tragedy.
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Best regards.
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Jim Abourezk
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
An Open Letter to the London Olympics Committee
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The Agent Orange Games?
by LEN ALDIS
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Lord Coe. Chair; Sir Keith Mills, Deputy Chair; HRH the Princess Royal; Charles Allen; Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari; Sir Phillip Craven; Paul Deighton, Chief Exe; Jonathan Edwards; Tony Hall; Andrew Hunt; Justin King; Stephen Lovegrove; Adam Penglly; Tim Reddish; Lord Moynihan; Sir Craig Reedie; Martin Stewart; Sir Robin Wales. Mayor of Newham; Neil Wood.
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In a few weeks, unless you take action, the Olympic Stadium will have been surrounded by a wrap comprising 336 giant panels made by a company responsible for deaths of many thousands, including thousands of babies that died in their mother’s womb. Responsible for the deaths of many more thousands of those that lived for just a few months.
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That company is Dow Chemical, whose record was known to each and everyone of you through the many court cases it has had brought against them in the United States for disposing of tonnes of highly toxic waste into rivers and lakes near its plants. For lawsuits brought by American Vietnam Veterans and Vietnamese suffering from the effects of Agent Orange.
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But let me remind each of you, the biggest crime of Dow Chemical was its part, along with 35 other U.S. Chemical Companies, headed by Monsanto, in manufacturing Agent Orange used with devastating effect on Southern Vietnam for a period of TEN-YEARS, yes, TEN-YEARS. 80 million litres of the chemical was sprayed over the forests, crops, hamlets and the PEOPLE themselves, from August 1961 to 1971, resulting in the deaths mentioned above.
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Through the use of Agent Orange, Dow Chemical and the others have left a legacy that today in Vietnam affects four million. It has also entered into the fourth generation. From my first visit in 1989 and each year since, I have met and seen many of these tragic victims, of all ages, from new born babies that are minus feet and sometimes hand, young children suffering from water on the brain, and their heads four-times the normal size where their illness is slowly crushing the brain that ends in death.
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I have met with youngsters minus a limb, some minus two; some will be confined to a bed or wheelchair for the rest of their lives unable to fend for themselves. In Dong Nai I met a mother and her two daughters both unable to move or speak but just lay on their bed, the mother looks after them and their needs and has done so for 42 years, the age of her eldest daughter, the other daughter is 36 years. I could describe more of the people I have met over the past 22 years. But what angers me more is when I see children affected that were born after the spraying stopped in 1971 and long after the ward ended in 1975.
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This is what Dow Chemicals has done to the people of Vietnam, and each of you have seemed fit to support the appointment of the company to be a sponsor of the Games that opens in London on 27th July despite the many objections made by people from a number of countries.
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Shame on you all.
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LEN ALDIS is secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society.
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http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/06/the-agent-orange-games/
Thanks, DownWithThisSortOfThing, for the explanation, it wasn’t clear at all but is now, I’m only familiar with the expression in the forms: ‘watch my back’ ‘I’ll watch your back’, more usually though when up to something nefarious, requiring someone ‘keeping the edgy’ -to protect or similar, not ever ‘got your back’ or some such opaque distortion, not unlike the the ambiguous ‘could care less’ for more correct and inherently logical ‘couldn’t care less’.
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I gave Cameron six months from election before cracking, didn’t expect his physical collapse to preclude his overdue mental deterioration, imminent now it will be all the more of a spectacle; we couldn’t have guily-as-hell LFI groupie Brown take over either again, much as he looks keen, bewildered and a study in innocent pious haplessness. How about John McDonnell as a possible parallel prime-minister in waiting? It’ll only be till each of the home nations evolve themselves and escape from the Westminster and party cesspit to new constitutional sunlit high grounds.
Two UK Murdoch journalists in apparent suicide bids
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Dr Kelly revisited X 2 (inflation affects everything apparently)
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LONDON (Reuters) – Two senior journalists working for Rupert Murdoch’s News International have apparently attempted suicide as pressure mounts at the scandal-hit publisher of the now-defunct News of the World.
Three sources close to the company told Reuters on Tuesday the two journalists at the Sun daily appeared to have tried to take their own lives. Investigations sparked by a phone-hacking scandal continue to expose dubious practices by present and past employees.