I am delighted that a new canpaign has started today against the state enforced child slavery in the uzbek cotton industry, especially as this campaign originates in Germany, where a significant portion of society appears to have finally woken up to the reality of the German government’s appalling complicity in the Nazi style regime and atrocities of Karimov.
However in the UK it remains the case that since the coalition government came to power, there has not been one single government statement on the human rights atrocities in Uzbekistan or – even more damning of our sham democracy – one single statement or question from New Labour.
@Ben Franklin re Jap homicide vs suicide rates.
There is discussion on the intergoogle that suggests that some of those alleged suicides are in fact murders. Japanese police are notorious for not investigating deaths so it would seem like a good place to bump someone off with a fake suicide.
O/T
Oh-oh. US Dept of Defence/CIA “scientists” – supposedly studying the effects of “high altitude on fighting capability to inform the Afghanistan war” (wasn’t the US supposed to be leaving…?) – caught trying to destabilize Bolivia. Wikileaks cables provide some of the background (as usual – isn’t it amazing how regularly the MSM quote Wikileaks cables in their stories nowadays? It’s becoming routine…)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-us-prepares-to-destabilize-bolivia-again/5319971
US Embassy in La Paz trying to hush it up and US State Department keeping very quiet…
Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir has put in an official nomination for Bradley Manning to get the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize:
http://antiwar.com/blog/2013/01/21/bradley-manning-nobel-peace-prize-nomination-2012/
This article’s dated yesterday, but it’s a little confusing because the text of the nomination mentions that Bradley has been incarcerated for “well over a year” when he’s actually been in prison for nearly two and a half years (and still no trial…)
Jemand; There is that possibility. Many Central American countries report NO suicides, but many murders. It could be the Roman Catholic culture at play there.
Yesterday evening Channel 4 news cited Wikileaks in relation to a story about Algeria.
Wikileaks is now becoming an important source of information.
But, should we read through between the lines? Do we now have to counter check all reports that ‘quote’ from Wikileaks, or can we trust the MSM to paste and copy….
Mark
Yahdeekumullahu is not an insult to a non-Muslim, because we genuinely would like you to be blessed with the awareness that God is One and Muhammad (SAW) is His messenger, and to go to heaven as a practising Muslim. But it is used as an insult between Muslims to imply that they are off the rails, which for one reason or other, mostly historical racism, they often are.
I am not responsible for my father’s deeds, let alone his father’s or his countrymen’s deeds. We are responsible for our own deeds and I have opposed oppression and colonialism from since I first came across it amongst my snotty, sons of the upper crust schoolmates aged nine. They have continued the colonialism temporarily suspended after two world wars with more relish and indiscriminate evil than practiced in the days of empire.
I am not responsible for that, but I am a captive Englishman amongst a mass of rightly angry Muslims. It’s difficult to think of any corner of the earth not ravaged by British greed and violence. Just because the neo-cons are not listening does not give them the right to take it out on an Englishman who does lend them a listening ear.
A comment was deleted earlier in which we were being told to listen more and talk less. I’m sorry but I do believe that one has to check in one’s own mind to whom one is lending one’s listening ear. If their message clearly is unfair or un-Islamic or concealing the malice of spying lying or worse, one does not have to follow them. There is no listening nor obeying to those who are deviating openly from an Islamic course. If they correct themselves, they will have my full attention otherwise they will be ignored.
Even the singing of the American National Anthem yesterday was a sham. Beyonce mimed and the Marines Band pretended to play their instruments!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9819090/Did-Beyonce-mime-Star-Spangled-Banner-at-Obamas-inauguration.html
@Uzbek in UK – “Firstly I am not turning state into any kind of religious concept. State is state. And in USSR it was state (representing all of us soviet citizens) that was overwhelmingly in control and ownership of every economic activity (and in most cases of social activities). Thus when discussing USSR the concept of the state cannot be ignored nor can it be underrated.”
You sound as if you didn’t try to engage with what I was saying.
A state can’t be in control. A state’s an abstract notion. People are in control. You might as well say Tesco wants this or that. Do you get my drift?
Religion is about the conceptual ‘exiling of human powers into a beyond’, as Marx put it.
The forms of the company and the brand are in the same kettle of fish – thought of by many as ‘persons’ or ascribed with human characteristics.
“Yes, Marx did not call for party dictatorship but quite clearly he called for dictatorship of proletariat. And Soviet Communist Party as rightful (as they thought) representatives of proletariat just assumed this rightful (as they thought) job to govern without alternatives. One again might argue that perfect idea was corrupted by I say the ONLY practical solution for this idea.”
Yes, well there’s a bloody enormous difference between the dictatorship of the party and the dictatorship of the proletariat.
When did the Bolshevik leaders think what you say they thought? When they were signing the Brest-Litovsk treaty? When they were imposing one-man management? When they were crushing strikes? When they were agreeing weapons deals with the German government? When going into the League of Nations? When setting up the concentration camp system?
Socialism isn’t an idea to be applied. But, using your terminology, how do you know you’re right when you say that what the Bolsheviks did after October 1917 was the only practice that might have corresponded to the theory of socialism (despite the fact that in any sensible terms, it didn’t?) Have you looked at anti-Bolshevik revolutionary socialist material from the time – let’s say Pannekoek, or the KAPD in Germany, or Sylvia Pankhurst in Britain, etc., let alone say the Workers’ Truth group in Russia?
As for the Critique of the Gotha Programme, no-one was saying Marx thought revolution would be peaceful. (Actually he did at one time say he thought it could be peaceful in England, but he was wrong.)
@ Nevermind
“Yesterday evening Channel 4 news cited Wikileaks in relation to a story about Algeria. Wikileaks is now becoming an important source of information. But, should we read through between the lines? Do we now have to counter check all reports that ‘quote’ from Wikileaks, or can we trust the MSM to paste and copy….”
I’d say it’s a very good idea to run a keyword or two through here:
http://cablegatesearch.net/
Just to check, like… We can at least try to keep the bastards honest 😉
@Mary
“http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21126547# BBC predicting Netanyahu in a coalition.”
Thanks for this. I haven’t taken a newspaper for 5 years, but nowadays it seems that three-quarters of the newspaper articles I read online contain advertisements for Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube! Netanyahu wrote something on Facebook…Haaretz correspondent does a tweet…
Imagine being faced every day of your life by the watchtower and that wall in the photograph.
Amira Hass
Palestinian Ghettos were always the plan
http://www.australiansforpalestine.net/74697
Dear posters,
Those of you that think Habbabkuk is stupid must wake up and understand that s/he is as intelligent as others on this blog but s/he has an agenda and that is to disrupt this blog and perhaps other blogs that are of similar vein.
Mary is a good contributor (as others are) to our discussions and obviously does her research.
Perhaps Habbabkuk feels that Mary, being of the “weaker sex,” is a soft target (and if so would indicate that Havababa is male).
I’m sure many posters are tempted to hit back at Habbabkuk’s remarks but please don’t; it is part of his agenda of disruption. If he has something relevant and intelligent to say by all means answer him but bear in mind that is not what he is here for.
Mary must not be bullied out of this blog. I suggest that we completely ignore Havababa unless he has some sensible intellectual contribution to make.
Looking at the footage from the Algerian gas plant on C4 tonight, apparently taken by the Algerian Security service, it looks suspiciously like the ‘security guards’ looking after the compound were also the ‘terrorists’ who later killed many of the workers (especially all the ones who probably could/wqould have said that was indeed the case).
This is proving to be a brilliant ploy – get your security service to do the dirty deeds that enable the media to promote a narrative that allows the politicians to announce military action and simply claim the security personnel were ‘infiltrated by Al CIAda’. The Algerians were making a point earlier about parading Canadian and French passports of dead ‘terrorists’ – more ‘infiltrators’ no doubt.
It’s amazing how all these draconian anti-terror laws seem to be totally useless with ‘terrorists’ globe-trotting without any impediment and even setting off to launch their attacks direct from Western nations. Quite bizarre that the media still insists these people are Islamic extremists affiliated to Al CIAda terrorists and does not question why they have been allowed to board planes in Western airports, aren’t they supposed to be arrested or something?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2265518/Algeria-crisis-Algerian-forces-Canadians-Frenchman-bodies-gas-plant-gunmen.html
“Nah, never ‘eard of any of ’em mate. Allah Akhbar!” – MI6 spokesperson.
Guano @ 5.39 21 Jan. No never made it beyond the Azerbaijan border. I sat with some of the guards in the border post and we discussed the price of English potatoes much to their amusement. I’m not quite sure whether they were amused at the extortionate cost of potatoes or my butchery of the Russian language. But, yes the Chinese are masters of papermaking, dating back to the discovery of the process by Ts’ai Lun nearly 2,000 years ago.
As to Birmingham I’ve done no cycling since the snow arrived.
N_ @ 8.15 21 Jan. Yes, I think I’ve come across Blair’s sister-in-law before. She could see through him, and his evil desires. I suppose Cherie feels she has no option but to stick by him, having a family by him. And all that blood money. “Here’s the smell of the blood still”.
doug scorgie; “understand that s/he is as intelligent as others on this blog”
It took less than a handful of exchanges with Habbabkuk, when he/she first appeared on this Blog, for this to be obvious to me, and it’s a dead troll giveaway when they pretend to play dumb by deliberately missing or choosing to stupidly misinterpret, points in a rational dialogue. Trolls always overplay their hand in appearing incredibly stupid if seriously challenged, as always contrasted & betrayed by the deviousness they employed in subtly trying to derail threads.
I been reading this Blog for a few years now, and I’ve seen quite a few trolls come & go, and it’s true that they all seem fixated by Mary; there may be an element of selecting her because she is a woman, but I think it’s also due to the fact that she is both a very active & very informing Poster, in other words it’s proof that she is doing something right, ie being an effective Poster, which of course those on the “dark side” cannot stand.
Arbed, the blogger you linked to gives a clue to your puzzle : “I can anticipate all the objections. Regardless, keeping Bradley Manning’s name in the press increases the chances that some justice, somewhere might be served.” Apparently that’s all she was trying to do–keep Bradley Mannings name in play, even though the nomination was a 2012 nomination, the last yrs prize already awarded.
http://joyb.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/bradley-manning-nobel-peace-prize.html
I wish somebody bold and widely respected like a nelson mandela, or even a bunch of well-known writers and artists would nominate Assange and Manning for the prize, although the risk is that it would increase public perception that Manning was wikileaks source.
Sorry i won’t be able to make it for tomorrow but hope to meet up another time. Please thank Clark for his kind offer to coordinate. Admire your commitment.
“I been reading this Blog for a few years now, and I’ve seen quite a few trolls come & go”
Oooo look we have a troll expert.
What is a troll?
Macky et al: FWIW, I enjoy Mary’s posts, as does Craig. Thanks Mary!
John Goss, get on the bike! I’ve been cycling around Birmingham pretty much throughout the cold snap – all main roads are almost entirely clear. The only thing to watch out for is side-roads, where little traffic has passed, and where ice hides under compacted snow. Best thing to do is to get off and push, as even slush can hide slippy patches. But otherwise, very little to worry about. Wrap up warm!
Mark Golding
Any chance you could use your dodgy connections in the UK intelligence hub to speed up my working tax credit claim?
In Iraq as you know the insider friend will quickly solve all administrative problems, permanently lost visa files instantly retrieved. Are we now, as Muslim culture permeates the administration at all levels, going to have a Soviet style/third world administrative system oiled by insiderism and ultimately bribes?
“Yahdeekumullahu is not an insult to a non-Muslim”
Sounds like a terrific insult though, hope somebody can use it. I wonder if some languages have better insults than others. I heard that Cantonese was best for obscenities.
@Villager, further to your last Post I concur with all you wrote; acknowledging the various props that we humans have set-up to deal with the psychological & sub-conscious need for security (my “Certainties”), is only part of what is needed to understand our human nature. The holistic approach is the one & only way to both understand & evolve the essence of what is means to be alive, and in this age of increasing personal isolation, I will emphasise your stress about the importance of relationships, with their associated mirroring effect for self-understanding, which if realised enough, renders obsolete the need for any “securities” & “certainties”; and they will be replaced by rational acceptance & “sublime madness”, the dual nature of Man, as expressed by the ancient Greeks as the Apollo & Dionysus parts of our nature: oddly enough I was going add that this holistic understanding of our human nature can also be understood by the term Humanism, and I was/am illustrating how this connects, by drawing your perhaps surprised attention to the journalistic writings of Chris Hedges, which are actually intensely humanistic, and who just happened to have penned his latest only yesterday, under the heading of “A Time for ‘Sublime Madness’ !! ;
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33679.htm,
(Having view that second K clip, I must admit that I found it tough going as it was on a much more profound level than the UN clip; the style of the debate with lots of questions about terms & fundamentals etc, reminded me very much of the didactic method as made famous by Socrates, only I find his discourses a little less taxing ! )
“Oooo look we have a troll expert.”
I do feel sorry for people who lack the basic institution to realise when somebody is not being straight with them, especially when it comes to being obviously trolled on the Net; really not a hard one to spot.
“What is a troll?”
Not you for sure, as it does takes a certain sophistication.
“Not you for sure, as it does takes a certain sophistication.”
I’ll take that as a “don’t know” then.
“I’ll take that as a “don’t know” then”
Are you deliberately trying to appear Troll like pretend-stupid, or is it the real thing now !?
I refer you to my earlier post on this thread, which contains;
“Many, like myself, have concluded that Habbabkuk is here in bad faith, ie is a Troll”
A troll is a little critter that sits underneath bridges and lurks for an opportunity to scare you from completing your journey to the other side.
A Tyroll is the same, Italian troll from Tyrol, dyslexic, those can still spit up your trouser leg…. they are loud and use the echo of the mountains to put the fear into you, very slow due to the excessive cold.
Now I really am embarrassed. http://aux.iconpedia.net/uploads/2146529134.png
Thanks anyway for what you have said. The attention was definitely unwanted, not sought and unpleasant while it lasted. I think that some people do not realize that they can cause hurt. All the time it continued, I was thinking that casual readers would wonder what the dickens it was all about and that it would reflect badly on the blog which has been and continues to be a unique and valuable resource. Craig’s posts are needed now more than ever before to inform and to shine the proverbial light into the dark recesses.
Every time I visited here, I was thinking ‘Is it safe to come out now?’ but I did not respond. It started when I suggested that the ‘handle’ was the name of a prophet in the Hebrew bible and that did it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habakkuk I can’t be sure but I think that was the original spelling used but I might be wrong.
Night all.
All very trivial in the scheme of things of course.
Thanks for that great link Arbed, shall use it next time I see the MSM Wiki quotes, I suppose this means we are entering a slightly different news provision landscape.
Many journalist, reliant on their usual pundits and ‘always has beens’, will chump at the bit, tough, they’ll have to get used to it.
Clark’s hard disk has given up the ghost, don’t expect him back soon.
“Many, like myself, have concluded that Habbabkuk is here in bad faith, ie is a Troll”
So suppose you could get rid of him, get Craig to block his IP of something?
Who would become the troll then?
“Who would become the troll then?”
At this rate of inane questions, for some reason it rather does seem that you desperately want to put yourself forward !