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161 thoughts on “Nuclear Negotiations with Iran

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  • A Node

    doug scorgie 28 Feb, 2013 – 8:10 pm

    I have just watched George Galloway on ‘Comment’ on Press TV live broadcast: One of his best I think. William Hague (yes he himself) phoned in and was put in his place by George.
    I don’t know when tonight’s programme will be available as a recording but watch-out for it.

    Its now available here:
    http://www.presstv.ir/Program/291394.html
    George is always good value for money, but to be honest I was a bit disappointed with his exchange with “William from Yorkshire”. He barely let him speak. I can’t work out either what Hague hoped to gain by phoning in, or why Galloway didn’t put the boot in.

  • Villager

    Habby, hang on a minute, not so fast. Clark was right to point out what he did to you–absolutely right.

    You were beginning ti sound a little xenophobic there. And you call them “Roms”? You come across European to me given the way you write your numbers and the way you write time as 00h15 etc.

    Are you superior to these potential migrants? On what basis? Have i misunderstood something, at the risk of coming late into the thread?

  • Clark

    Hmm, you’re having trouble projecting the “Habbabkuk” character, aren’t you? That’s because it’s a construct, not from your heart. I think that you should just give it up and be yourself again, but you’ve had “Habbabkuk” be so horrible that you probably don’t want it to become associated with your original screen-name. You seem to be painting yourself into a corner.

  • Clark

    And that’s why “Habbabkuk” ended up being parasitic; you’ve been trying to express your opinions, but simultaneously hide them lest they identify you. Eventually “Habbabkuk” was reduced to critiquing other people’s contributions. “Oh what a tangled web…” etc.

    I’m sorry that this has happened and I hope that a resolution can be found.

  • Jives

    Clark,

    Absolutely spot on.

    The trouble with trolls is that,the law of diminishing returns applies to their construct.

    The lack of truth in their chosen disguise invariably backfires-as it must.

    In this case the trolls mission fails because they end up looking like nasty idiots.All straw men ultimately suffer from their-initially necessary-but ultimately revealing lack of truth,sustainability and integrity.

    We’ve seen it here time and again.

    These last few months i sense there are 3 or 4 obvious trolls working in tandem plus one or two others that loiter whilst pretending to be objective/neutral.

    Its a testament to Craig’s blog,the genuine posters and what i sense are many thousands who read but dont post that the trolls ultimately fail and undo themselves and their mission.

    To most reading this blog its clear who the shams and nasty fools are.

    In this way the trolls fail,sui-generis,inevitably.

    Truth has a certain unassailable longevity and marque.

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)

    @ Villager :

    I think you misunderstand, so just a couple of points.

    I merely point out that the number of Romanians and Bulgarians who will come to the UK is likely to be far in excess of the numbers projected (as was the case post-2004) and that this could cause problems. For a start, it will be grist to the mill of Mr Farage and consorts (the real xenophobes)in their anti-EU hysteria and they will make hay with it.

    The word “Roms” (also “Sinti”)is not an abbreviation for “Romanians” but the word used these days for what used to be called “gypsies” and I can assure you that I’m using it in a descriptive and not a pejorative sense. The fact is that there are heavy concentrations of Rom in Slovakia, Hungary and especially Romania; and that in reality the governments of those countries do their best to make life as miserable as possible for the Roms – inter alia probably with the hope that as many as possible of them will leave for other countries. The great majority of Romanians presently in certain continental European countries are Roms – to point this out is not to say that I feel myself “superior”, it’s just saying a fact.

    Having said that, under current arrangements, free movement is one of the four pillars pf the European construction so there’s nothing much the UK can do about it. I just point out that we’re likely to have a few surprises in a year or so. Of course, any problems which might arise (eg of a social nature) are not likely to affect our policy makers :).

  • Mary

    I was looking at Claire Loud (yes that it is her middle name!)Perry’s Twitter. She is the new Mensch. Rather too much emphasis on immigration lest she doesn’t keep up with UKIP.

    eg She retweeted this
    ConservativeHome‏@ConHome 1 Mar

    Net immigration falls by a third. Theresa May is delivering. http://bit.ly/Wvjhp6
    Retweeted by Claire Perry

    and this

    Tim Montgomerie‏@TimMontgomerie Feb 28

    Sir Andrew Green of @migrationwatch congratulates Coalition on progress on immigration control http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/02/falling-net-migration-a-clear-policy-success/
    ~~~

    More of a retweeter than a tweeter although we do have some insights of her private life – minieggs binge on her way to QT, lunch with the Bish of Salisbury on another day and a go on a teddy zip wire at Corfe Castle with her brood. What tripe.

    https://twitter.com/claire4devizes
    ~~~
    I stayed out of the previous exchange for obvious reasons but, if I had entered in, I would have said in the style of the old saying when such things mattered, ‘Excuse me Madam, but your slip is showing’, substituting ‘racial prejudice’ for ‘slip’ but that would only have heaped yet more of the insults upon my head!

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)

    sorry to disappoint, but no racial prejudice involved! (But thanks for the (expected) insult and innuendo)

  • Mary

    I was not wrong. She has an admirer.

    ‘Indeed Mensch, who calls Perry a “kindred spirit”, believes Perry’s relatively late entry to the party should be “embraced” as a refreshing change. “I like that she is prepared to say ‘sod it’ … She speaks her mind and everybody likes it about her.”‘

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2012/may/27/claire-perry-new-iron-lady

    Perry was a double rowing Oxford Blue, a banker with Credit Suisse and also worked for McKinsey. Her husband is a fund manager. She worked for Gideon after she joined the party. She has a house in Salisbury which is an old rectory and worth £2.5m, three kids at boarding school and the Labrador. So representative of the BIG SOCIETY, not, and far away from Ken Loach’s depictions of life in this country for five or six decades.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/claire-perry-i-am-not-a-celebrity-it-is-not-the-jungle-8449405.html

    Excruciating stuff.

    PS I have just realised that some wag must have substitued Loud for Louise on her Wikipedia page! I thought Loud was one of those strange u class family names.

    She is ceaseless. Today in the Torygraph. She is obviously ‘of the moment’.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9904122/Intrusive-parenting-damages-childrens-lives-says-Claire-Perry-David-Camerons-adviser-on-childhood.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Perry

  • Villager

    Mary, thank you again for pointing out for me the things i ‘need to know’. This time about Claire Loud Berry–God she made me cringe in her performance at QT. What a climber. And her record at McKinsey only underscores her mediocrity (obviously didn’t make it to an equity partner). Which was in itself all too obvious in the presence of Ken Loach whose intelligence (a much falsely used word) is of the true variety in line with this blog’s genuine host.

    Habby i’m having a think about the genuineness of your last comment. Slow start with a somewhat groggy head from an unnecessary late night sans alcohol. But thank you for responding and i shall do the same later.

  • Jemand

    Clark, 1 Mar 6:57pm

    Regarding Habbabkuk’s comment, it’s unfair to ridicule people’s concerns about unregulated migration given the history of problems that arise when large numbers of people migrate unexpectedly without forward planning. Has the UK got policies in place to accomodate the needs of the many new arrivals that some are predicting? 

    Indonesia and China have their own problems with internal migration and the EU is discovering its own. One day, the UK will need to address these issues before the next BIG depression that will certainly result in major civil unrest. And for those of you who support Britain’s continued membership of the EU, you’d better hope that this migration surge does not result in a 
    popular backlash and decision to leave the Union when the referendum comes around in 2017.

    The following links explain many of the issues :

    Up-front cost of new migrants to Oz est. $500,000 –
    http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/39930.html

    Problems with population growth –
    http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/44896.html

    Britain unprepared for surge in migrants – 
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9637967/Britain-facing-new-eastern-Europe-immigration-surge.html

    Overpopulation poses threat to Britain –
    http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/06/30/52606880.html

    Problems with govt sponsored internal migration in Indonesia –
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmigration_program

    Problems with internal migration in China –
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migration_in_China

  • Clark

    Contributor behind “Habbabkuk”: your essential problem is that you didn’t really value “Habbabkuk” in the first place. Regarding it as a puppet, you thought that you could just pull its strings and have it do whatever. So to see if you could draw out a bit of racism, you had “Habbabkuk” use some possibly racist language. Then you’d have sent your hapless character in to do the demolition job. Of course, it would be easier if you could use multiple screen-names, but there’s a rule against that and without multiple IP addresses you’d risk exposure. That does indicate that you’re not part of a team, with access to multiple connections.

    But you overlooked something. Nearly everyone here is just a name on the screen; in that sense “Habbabkuk” is just as “real” as most others, and thus invites the same level of scrutiny as any genuine contributor. Ironically, other contributors have been taking “Habbabkuk” more seriously than you do yourself.

    Maybe you should write to Suhayl Saadi and ask him for some advice about how to develop characters in fictional writing. I think that he’ll tell you that you have to respect your character’s integrity, let it develop as a real person would, even if that means it ends up saying things that you wouldn’t. But, of course, you never intended “Habbabkuk” to have autonomy. You sent “Habbabkuk” in as your agent, to try to influence the debate in a direction the “real you” would approve of. But there is only one “real you”, not two, so “Habbabkuk” has inevitably fallen between two stools.

    White’s Chappaquidick Theorem (A. Bloch, 1990, page 98):

    “The sooner and in more detail you announce the bad news, the better.”

    I’ve really fucked up here at times. There are things I look back on with excruciating embarrassment, especially when I’ve just smoked my first bit of weed after a while without. But hell, “Better to have loved and lost…” etc.

  • Jives

    Jemand,

    Not exactly unbiased or reliable sources some of those.

    In fact one of articles seemed to be promoting a eugenics argument in sync with the need for more spending on weapons of mass destruction.

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)

    re Claire Perry (various posts, above):

    the several comments on this person (whom I’d never heard of before, by the way) seem rather indicative of the mindset of a few commenters, led as always by Saint Mary, she of the generous spirit and the conscience of this blog, in that they concentrate less of attacking the woman’s ideas than on attacking her ad feminam (I assume, of course, that the comments are not meant favorably).

    Let’s look at a couple of them (in the order they were made).

    * she lunches with the Bishop of Salisbury : so what? Why shouldn’t she?

    * she went to some event with her “brood” : leaving aside the loaded word, so she’s a mother who goes and does things with her children – good for her. Would you prefer that her nanny – if she has one – should go out with the children?

    * she went to the country’s leading university and, while she was there, also distinguished herself in a sporting activity. I should have thought that would indicate a certain mental and physical ability, not things to be deplores, surely? Do you think that people should boycott Oxford and not practice sport(s)?

    * she worked as a banker and then at McKinsey – entry to both of which is highly competitive. A rather impressive performance which should attract, if at all, admoraation rather than censure. Unless of course you believe that bankers and consultants shouldn’t be allowed to exist.

    * she has a husband who presumably earns a good salary, a nice house in the country, three children (any problem with that, by the way? I believe we’re always bemoaning the ageing population?) and a nice dog. I’m sure a lot of woment would like to be in the same position, so perhaps she is rather “representative” of people as a whole in that regard (see below)

    * she is not representaative of “Big Society” – is it the belief of the writer that the representatives of society as a whole must be Mr or Mrs Exactly Average and that anyone who deviates from this Average should be ineligible to represent society in any way (eg as an MP)?

    * her record at McKinsey – she didn’t make it to equity partner – apparently underscores her mediocrity. Generally speaking, I should say that that comment implies the writer wants to have it both ways : would Villager have abstained from citicism of she HAD become a partner? I doubt it and suspect that that wxould also have become a reason to damn her. Specifically : how long soes it take, on average, for someone to become an equity partner at McKinsey – and do you know how long she was with them? I suspect not or at least not when you made your comment.

    You’ll notice that I’m not commenting on her performance on QT. If your criticisms had focussed on that, fair enough. But what really seeems to irk you is that someone has – whether by ability or luck or a mixtyre of the two – has made what many people would consider to be a success of life.

    There’s far too much of that sort of thing on this blog, and I’m afraid to say that Mary is one of the main culprits. A pity for the blog, in my opinion.

    PS – possibly an ignoble thought, but if life had turned out differently for our host, and if he had one day got into the news or assumed, on retiring, a couple of directorships in companies Mary disapproves of, who knows if Mary wouldn’t one day have been spitting out her venom against Sir Craig Murray, a former priviedged and unscrupulous mandarin of the FCO and ….well, you know… a bit too fond of the bottle and women…? Just a thought!

  • Mary

    @sorry to disappoint, but no racial prejudice involved! (But thanks for the (expected) insult and innuendo)

    It was not an insult as I was stating the obvious. As for the innuendo, maybe I should have said ‘Excuse me SIR, but your racial prejudice is showing’.

    I care not who you are, whether you are M or F, where you come from etc. Most of us here know or can deduce the basics about others and what makes them tick.

    Off out now to do some gardening and clean out the hens. OK?

  • Jemand

    Jives

    OK. Deregulate everything – your labour market, banking, prisons, security, transport, migration, healthcare. Then flush, stand back and watch your country go down the toilet.

    Enjoy!

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)

    @ Jemand :

    Thank you for that. I should point out to all that my “concerns” are not at all of a personal nature, because my personal circumstances are such that I’ll not be affected in any way when the likely surge arrives and beds down.

    @ Clark : I’m flattered that you should have given so much thought to who or what the real Habbabkuk is, but would reespectfully point out that your post reveals a little of the conspiracy theory mentality that underlies so many comments on this blog. Habbabkuk is Habbabkuk – why embroider further? Just answer any points I make – if you are able and can be bothered (if not, OK with me as well).

    *******

    La vita è bella, life is good! (it was time to say it again)

  • Jives

    Fascinating that some posters label Craig-who raised the vital issue of ” a global market for torture”-and suffered greatly for these most humane of principles as unscrupulous!

    Speaks volumes.

  • Jives

    “Habbabkuk is Habbabkuk”

    Except when he/she gets caught-as has happened- by the mods using different identities!

    LOL.

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)

    @ Jives (12h43) : you just don’t get it, do you? Are you really so stupid? Read the post again – carefully – I was saying that that is the sort of thing The Viper-Tongue would have written about Craig had his career developed differently.

    PS – do you share Mary’s opinions about Claire Perry as revealed through her comment?

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)

    Mary’s post at 12h32 is typical of her style (and of her contribution to this blog).

    I said, in reply to an earlier post of hers, “Sorry to disaapoint, but no racial prejudice involved! (But thanks for the (expected) insult and innuendo”

    Of course Mary then, instead of defending her original slur, eg by saying “yes, I do actually think you are actually a racist for this and this reason…”, ie, instead of replying on the substance, chooses to reply on whether or not what she posted was an insult or innuendo. In other words , there is always a focus on the subdidiary (and ultimately unimportant) question and never an attempt to discuss the real issue. As was pointed out on another thread, this is in essence cowardice.

    This demonstrates

  • Villager

    Habbabkuk, I think you’re on the verge of losing the plot. If you haven’t already, pull yourself together. Your intellectual firepower which you love to self-aggrandise is nothing but a fizzle-stick. Your obsession with Mary is past beyond getting the better of you. Life IS beautiful, we need no re-minding and so is Mary contributing to its Beauty by pointing out loads of blemishes. You’re stuch in a groove, stunted. Shame you’re struggling to find your path to enlightenment. Perhaps the clues lie in Clark’s observations of your other stunts–you’re not being true to yourself, leave alone deceiving others.

    Re: “her record at McKinsey – she didn’t make it to equity partner – apparently underscores her mediocrity. Generally speaking, I should say that that comment implies the writer wants to have it both ways : would Villager have abstained from citicism of she HAD become a partner? I doubt it and suspect that that wxould also have become a reason to damn her. Specifically : how long soes it take, on average, for someone to become an equity partner at McKinsey – and do you know how long she was with them? I suspect not or at least not when you made your comment.”

    A. I know exactly how long the path to Partner/Director at McKinseys is (do your own research)

    B. with the lure of money she would not have left them if she was going to cut the mustard, and

    C. Familiarise yourself with Rajat Gupta ex-CEO of Mckinsey who has been convicted and is due a jail term for insider trading.

    More on your race/immigration leaning remarks later. I’m keeping my powder dry and pondering deeper issues.

  • Jives

    Youre really out of your depth here Habbabkuk arent you?

    Guess you’ll have to change identities for a few posts now eh?

    Why cant you just be honest and not hide behind fake names and deceitful posts?

    Cheat.

    LOL.

  • Mary

    I see that self-combustion is imminent above!

    I wrote that reply about two hours ago and when I came indoors found that the screen had frozen with the comment still not sent. In refreshing the machine, the comment was apparently sent. It predates the garbage that followed.

    Anyway all that aside, I see that the subject of racial prejudice has been neatly side stepped by yet another parsing of what I say about a very pushy Tory woman who has got herself close up to the seat of power, if that phrase can be used in the same context of Cameron, Osborne and now Hammond’s PPS.

    Back to racial prejudice, let’s ask the Inquisitor General what he/she thinks of the Zionist treatment of black Ethiopian Jews who have come to live in Israel.

    Ethiopian women in Israel ‘given contraceptive without consent’
    Israel’s health ministry is investigating claims that Ethiopian immigrants have unwittingly had Depo-Provera jabs for years
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/28/ethiopian-women-given-contraceptives-israel

    PS I see Perry has another piece in the Press today. It must be the effect of that sugar rush from the mini eggs binge she had on Thursday.

    British children ‘babied’ by intrusive parents, says MP
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21641004

    s/be British people patronized by pushy Tory MP.

  • Jemand - The Power of Prayer

    “More on your race/immigration leaning remarks later. I’m keeping my powder dry and pondering deeper issues.”

    I’m ready to debate you on this topic. You. Your friends. You AND your friends. I’ve been ready for more than twenty years to knock the wind out of the sails of any bunch of socialist dandies who wants to grandstand and parade on this very, Very, VERY IMPORTANT SUBJECT. Put your X-bombs and R-bombs aside, cliched pejoratives won’t save you from your inevitable humiliation, and debate the real issues WITH ME.

    Do ordinary, unsophisticated people have any voice in the discussion about immigration? No. All you pompous lower-middleclass wankers have hijacked the debate for your own pseudo-intellectual gratification. ‘Apparently’, ordinary folk are too stupid to understand the highly nuanced issues of immigration, economics, public infrastructure and social harmony. It wouldn’t occur to any of you clever DICKS that the bottom 50% are justifiably anxious about economic and cultural security – a fundamental RIGHT of ALL PEOPLE, including my black brothers in Australia. They’re anxious about their future wellbeing and some of them think, AUDACIOUSLY, that it is their duty to lay the foundations of a safe, prosperous and secure future for their children and grandchildren. How PATHETICALLY old-fashioned that must seem to you all.

    That was just a taste of things to come. What say you, Villager, you devilishly clever, British intellectual giant. Are you ready to take on an impertinently haughty colonial????

  • Mary

    Furthermore Mr/Mrs/Miss Habbabkuk do not link my name to your indirect smearing of Craig with sly references to alcohol consumption.

    I have never met him but have heard him speak. I have the highest regard for him and am full of admiration for his courage and bravery for standing up and speaking out against injustice. I think Nadira and his family are lucky to have him for a husband and father.

    Now give us a break and clear off, there’s a good person.

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!)

    @Mary (15h48)

    You don’t get it either, do you (or you pretend not to). Let(s say it clearly one last time.

    You, Mary, specialise in posting what you consider are damning bits of “evidence” against anyone you’ve take a dislike to. So, for example, since you obviously have something against Claire Perry (for reasons unexplained), matters like what her husband’s job is, or that she went to Oxford, or that she has three children (a “brood” in your charming expression), or that she once worked for McKinsey, are all balck marks against her as far as you’re concerned.

    If, now, Craig had retired from his job as Sir Craig Murray and it then came to your notice that, for instance, he said or wrote something of which you’d disapprove, or was revealed as a director of a couple of companies of which you’d disapprove (eg ; a private health company bidding for NHS work), I’m certain you would immediately, in your post, contrive to bring to your readers attention in your usual sly little way that Craig had left his wife for a younger woman or that he had been accused of being too fond of the bottle. This is your way, isn’t it.

    Re-read your post about Claire Perry and reflect.

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