I am proud of the company I was in of fellow Sam Adams winners; but also because in the circumstances I think this was the best speech I have ever made. If you listen from 15 minutes, the enthusiastic and sustained interruption of applause I received from the Oxford Union for my attack on those demonstrating against Julian Assange is remarkable.
It particularly explodes the appalling lies of the Guardian’s shrill hate campaign against Julian Assange, which you will recall covered this event under the headline Julian Assange finds no allies and tough queries in Oxford University talk . It has taken the Oxford Union two months to post this video, and then unlike other newly posted videos it does not appear on the front page of their youtube site.
The students no longer have any autonomy in the the Oxford Union where speakers and videos have to be approved in advance by a solidly and uniformly right wing board of trustees which includes William Hague and Louise Mensch.
It is, however, even at this belated time, a great pleasure to be able again to state and to demonstrate what a vicious little liar Amelia Hill is.
After my point on the Assange demonstration, you could have heard a pin drop for the rest of my talk and I was unsure how the audience were reacting. Unfortunately the video cuts off the peroration, so you will have to take my word for it that the applause was very big and after resuming my seat I had to half stand and acknowledge again. But I had concluded by introducing Julian Assange, so that may have been for him not me – I would be just as pleased.
Let me post this one again so you have the pair of me on consecutive nights in very different moods.
“they are here to “educate” and reinforce the message of the “two minutes hate” as per the bums rush of the “Media”, hence it is pointless to expect any other kind of conduct. Their minds are already made up, and classified as per the details of shitlist from upon high. This can be confirmed by the trends in their “contribution”.”
November; I think this is an important point, but it should be taken with a little salt. Those ‘flinty foreheads’ may only seem locked into a mindframe, or they are truly intransigent. Is that a reason to refuse debate? Of the three, opinions, attitudes and beliefs, beliefs are the most difficult to reach with counter-point. If they are mere opinions/attitudes, such can be malleable to an extent. That goes for everyone, regardless of ideology. However, when the conversation has reached it’s limits (points made, but not acknowledged or addressed) then the conduct is sufficient to make a personal judgement as to the value of the contributions in the near term. Personally, I can always find a nugget to focus on with wihich I disagree. The ability to distinguish between a salient point of disagreement, versus making some points on my ego meter, is the difference between lightning, and a lightning bug.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. There is nothing in this world but hatred and lies. Humans are all just out to use and take from each other. They just do it for fun. Wipe out the whole damn species NOW.
Ben Franklin, our comments crossed. I’m glad to see you here. I trust your good intentions, I see that you try; it’s not a matter of agreeing about everything. Really glad to see you.
Ditto, Clark. I do try to keep up, and make some non-sequitrs. I am a little sad that you and Anon are at odds.
I’m starting to wish I didn’t have any good side to my nature. It only brings me pain.
The fact that Russia was caught napping and China went along with the Libyan fiasco (some unknown reason as yet), somewhat does not apply to Syria. It is now the third year of the Syrian “unrest”, that is reliant on outside paid mercenaries, and outside help to be sustained. The desperation of those “power brokers” is getting palpable with the ratcheting up of the rhetoric and declaration of intent for supply of weapons and training to the “FSA”.
Note that Russia is currently stationed in the Tartus port on the Mediterranean, and in the event of Assad’s departure, Russians will lose their privileged access to the Mediterranean effectively rendering it a private lake for the US and co. This was pointed at in Putin’s visit to Germany, during which he asked; “what happens after Assad?” This of course was misconstrued by Reuters et al as Putin agreeing with the current vicious policy of the US and co towards Syria. However what Putin was clearly indicating was his resolve to protect Assad.
Further, if you have noticed the “Media” is not referring to the current events unfolding in Korean Peninsula, which is a friendly warning to US that she may face more than one theatre of engagement, if she is to push her luck in the mid-east.
Additionally so far as the wishful thinking of Dearlove goes, the recent turn out of the Iranian population (two/three million at least) in support of the Revolution Day in Tehran; ought to have been reported fully to the said bunch of weasels. This giving a resounding answer to the wishful thinking concerning political instability in Iran.
Also Dearlove et al have failed to mention that Iran having recently successfully intercepted a U2 spy craft (the best stealth and super sleuth technology, flying at seventy thousand feet), and further having reduced US to escorting her unmanned drones in the area by two manned jet fighters (these are not getting reported).
That is not mentioning the production of the offensive drones that is currently under way in Iran (they have enough of the US made drones in their possession to reverse engineer and build a decent piece of kit), adding to Iranians arsenal of weapons that are being produced to combat any kind of aggression from land, sea, or air (Iranians have seen what can happen to weak nations around them, up very close).
Therefore, the huffing and puffing that is unfolding in the West and zionistan are for the benefit of the rich Sheikhs and their compulsory enormous purchases of Western weapon systems, to have some kind of legitimacy in the eyes of their beleaguered population whom are suffering from joblessness, housing shortages, and repression. The case of wheels within wheels that are turning in the mid east has never been so convoluted.
Clark; What’s going on?
Before I went out today, I saw Andrew Gilligan and Sir Christopher Meyer on Murnaghan agreeing that Iraq would have been better left to Saddam Hussein that what we have done to the country and the people. Brass neck revisionism is happening 10 years on and before the blood has dried.
I went to Royal Holloway University at Egham to see the performance of a new opera entitled ‘The Silence of the Bees’. It was the beginning of their Science Festival and the aim was to attempt to bridge a perceived gap between art and science. It was brilliant. There were six soloists and an orchestra and a reading at the beginning by an American of seven poems concerned with bees.
The opera was based on the work of Royal Holloway’s Dr Mark Brown who researches into bee population decline with a special interest in bumblebees which I love. I have had bumblebee nests underground in my garden against a terrace wall but once or twice the badgers have been in and dug them out. I also have solitary bees, the leaf cutters and also masonry bees.
There are over 25,000 species of bees worldwide.
A couple of links which might be of interest.
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/aboutus/newsandevents/events/eventsarticles/thesilenceofthebeesascienceopera.aspx
http://pure.rhul.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/mark-j-f-brown(77a0e94b-96b7-4118-a740-163e7867e3b1).html
Without bees to pollinate our crops, we are sunk.
Some FAQs here too. http://www.ibra.org.uk/categories/faq#FAQ_13
eg
Q: How many species of bee are there in the world?
A: There are over 25,000 different species of bee in the world and many of them are under threat. In the UK, of the 254 species of wild bee (solitary and bumble bees), 25% are in the Red Data Book of endangered species. About 80% of the food on the supermarket shelves is there because bees have pollinated crops — without bees we would starve!
Don’t be disappointed in your humanity. Celebrate that you are human and alive, joy would be meaningless without pain. However, do not allow the inhumanity that surrounds you to taint your humanity.
Sorry to sermonise, but felt that you may need a gentle nudge.
Clark,
Clark,
Perhaps the pain you feel and I feel and billions of others feel is what gives me about the only ray of hope I have left. I hope you can understand – We know deep-down something is very wrong and that’s a start. It certainly doesn’t mean I take pleasure in the distress of others.
You shouldn’t assume my mental state is any better than that of yourself. Maybe I’m just better at hiding it….mostly.
If we were all grinning happily away like Tony Blair or a certain poster on here in particular, I’d have given up a long time ago.
Somehow an old song is playing in my head
Oh and to top it all – looks like I picked the wrong day to head on holiday to Cyprus.
– Well ok that last bit was a joke 🙂
Yes, Anon. The fact that we still have deep feelings, is both a blessing and a curse. It’s our lot as members of the family of human beans.
Hopefully an extinction event collision with earth is not imminent. However there is currently about 1 in 1000 chance that a comet big enough to wipe out all life on earth (if it hit us that is) will hit Mars on 19th October 2014.
If we we had just discovered it was on course for earth and not mars with a current 1 in 1000 chance of ending all life, I wonder how we would react.
Latest JPL orbit data http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=C/2013%20A1;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#cad
Note Minimum Distance remains stubbornly “0”. Imagine if that was earth and Minimum Distance just stayed ZERO as more observations were made.
Makes you think.
Friendly advice – you should all heed my motto : La vita è bella, life is good!
‘makes you think’. Any other time I would engage on this, but not now.
Habbabkuk, my life isn’t good, and I feel like you’re rubbing my face in the probable fact that your life is a lot better every time you post that. You stated that you put it there to annoy people. Well, it does more than just annoy me, it hurts me.
Anon, such a comet strike upon Mars could be a very good thing if it focuses the people of Earth to realise just how precarious our existence is on this ball of rock, if it could turn our attention from squabbling over resources to actually cooperating towards the business of managing our home planet properly.
John Goss
17 Mar, 2013 – 9:53 am
“Habbabkuk. The [Avery Porko] treaty allows for free trade.”
John, could you point me in the right direction to learn more about the Avery Porko Treaty? The best I could find on Google is the following:
“After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower insisted the status of the base remain unchanged, despite new Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s objections.
“Since then, the Cuban government has cashed only one of the rent checks from the U.S. government, and even then, according to Castro, only because of “confusion” in the early days of the leftist revolution. The remaining checks made out to “Treasurer General of the Republic”–a title that ceased to exist after the revolution–have not been cashed.
“The United States argued that the cashing of the single check signified Havana’s ratification of the lease — and that ratification by the new government rendered moot any questions about violations of sovereignty and illegal military occupation.”
http://www.army.mil/article/70561/Contracting_office_provides_capitalist_support_in_Cuba/
“if it could turn our attention from squabbling over resources to actually cooperating towards the business of managing our home planet properly.”
Clark; I think many humans tend to rise to the occasion when crisis erupts. I think many here fit that description.
Clark, you put such lovely stuff up here, it’s sad to see you in such despair. I for one appreciate your efforts. Please don’t respond to the negative forces that encircle.
CE and resident dissident, I’ve again read the Ed Vulliamy piece that you regard so highly, looking for the merit in it. Most of it is purely empty rhetoric, drawing comparisons with the Bosnian war. It cites no evidence, but it advances two operative passages:
OK, that’s an assertion; why do you take it to be true, and why should I?
So the article is calling for supplying arms to the “rebels”, yes? And you both strongly agree with this, yes? I note that you said that the article “is not banging the drum for war”. But you said what the article is not rather than what it is. And yes, it’s banging the drum to escalate the ongoing war.
Articles like this are worse than a waste of my time. A whole page of emotional argument, without a scrap of evidence. It’s designed to influence my opinion in a particular direction, without giving me what I need in order to make a good decision – evidence. CE, your link about the staff of the Ecuadorian embassy was just the same. I call this “propaganda”; there is simply no other appropriate term.
I posted evidence above. Look. This is what evidence looks like:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/15/syrian-death-tolls-tell-us
People gathering data and analysing it. That is what it takes to change my mind about something, not a fucking opinion piece.
Now justify yourselves.
Hi Craig, I’m posting here an entire comment from a colleague regarding the sea boundaries issue, particularly regarding Tavish Scott’s latest belly rumble about Shetland.
Of particular interest to yourself may be the conference mentioned in the last couple of paragraphs.
“The Faroes are on their own mini Continental Shelf. There is a deep water channel up to about 2,500 feet deep halfway between the Shetland’s and Faroes which isolates its Continental Shelf. Basically Scotland’s Continental Shelf does not extend out as far to the NW as it does into the North Sea. The boundary between the UK and Faroes just happens to be almost exactly halfway between the Shetlands and the Faroes but the southern Boundary between the UK and the Faroes is quite a bit closer to the Faroes than the UK because it tracks the edge of the Faroes’ Continental Shelf. Technically the separating trench is not deep enough to exceed the international absolute limit but it is still regarded as defining a Continental Shelf for the Faroes.
OTOH consider Svalbard a large Island not much smaller than Iceland and about the same distance away from Norway as Iceland is from the UK, because it sits on Norway’s Continental Shelf with no intervening isolating trenches, it is considered not to have a Continental Shelf of its own and that would apply if it were ever to become independent from Norway. The Shetlands are in the same longboat.
Rockall, sits on its own mini Continental Shelf, like the Faroes, separated from the contiguous North Sea Continental shelf by deep water.
The Falklands are about 5 times the area of the The Shetlands and Orkney put together and at 300 miles + and therefore outside the EEZ of Argentina and with surrounding seas of 5000 feet compared to the 400 feet in the Northern Isles you would think they had a good claim, but even though they are so far away, bigger and the Argentine Continental Shelf is so deep, it is still a contiguous Continental Shelf and even at 5000 feet, is not outside the legal limit for being considered a Continental Shelf.
I have been following the debate on the Malvinas/Falklands in the EJIL forums and the conclusion seems to be, even on the British side, that Argentina might well win if it came to the ICJ. However Argentina is stymied because they do not fully recognise the ICJ and therefore cannot bring the case before it and the UK is not disposed to do so.
It would seem impossible that The Shetlands could have any chance, so clear cut is the case there. There would have to be U-turns on various pronouncements already made.
However we must always be concerned where London is concerned. A warning shot being Crawford and Boyle’s report.
Another being an inaugural annual conference on Boundary Law, concentrating on maritime boundaries, to be held in London next month. With ICJ judges, members of the international tribunal which decides on sea boundaries, plus a host of experts professional and academic and, perhaps most concerning, what seems like a full team of maritime legal experts (at least 6) from the two main UK government departments concerned, in attendance.”
And now to read the article.
“I don’t think myself…” is abundantly obvious in those tapering arguments that pillow and prop up the philosophy of ‘humanitarian intervention’ from a parapet of Western narcissism on regime change.
C’mon people the West corrupted then abducted the ‘Arab Spring’ to smash Libya, remove the ‘reserve dollar’ threat from Gaddafi and then go on to plunder Libya’s resources.
The Arab people’s uprising was a lucky break, one that empowered AIPAC to press the goyim to “milk it” dry. Hey! we don’t need the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ lies was heard echoing round the dark corridors of MI6, ‘we don’t need words bound within the legitimate pages of a government ‘dodgy dossier’ signed by Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara, we do need a people’s revolt.
Libya was to be the perfect motivation, an indefectable massive arousal to smash Syria while the clear pure waters of a ‘Damascus Spring were flowing. A good time to drain the blood dry of a so called Saddam style ‘dictator’ criminal, Palestinian cause mover and arbiter, Iraq war opponent, Shia supporter and outspoken critic of the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey called al-Assad.
Really it was too asy to use the same Saudi thugs, Muslim brotherhood terrorists and UKUSIS mercenaries and trainers, easily ‘drafted’ into Syria via Akrotiri and Dhekelia Sovereign bases in adjacent Cyprus. Too easy?
Britain would play a key role to squelch the Iraq war induced hegemonic vibrations, Britain, in true King of the Realm diplomacy style held on to the
triggerreins of American awesome fire-power while men and women of conscience voted in the UN Security Council. It became but just a British ‘Lord Blair advised’ ‘formality’ for war that would predictably be thwarted a nuclear Russia and China.It’s ‘regime change’ Lord Blair would say to agent Cameron, “vis-a-vis civil war” an Assad confused[with his dad] tyrant deposed, thus, we can ignore EU and UN calls for an arms ban.
Catherine ‘blood-lust’ Ashton will fix the call with her feminine ‘think carefully’ brothers, we need to end the 70,000 murdered massacre before it becomes an embarrassing Iraq holocaust.
Meaningless words from the Croaker. He knows perfectly well that there can be no ‘two-state solution’ because of the Israeli settlement expansion.
Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomes the formation of the new Israeli Government.
Following the announcement of a new Israeli Government William Hague said:
“I welcome the formation of the new Israeli Government. I warmly congratulate Prime Minister Netanyahu on his second consecutive term in office at this important time in Israel’s history. We look forward to working with his new Government to further develop our strong bilateral relations and to advance our successful partnerships in areas such as trade, security, science, technology and higher education.
“As I have said previously, there is no more urgent foreign policy priority in 2013 than making progress towards achieving the two-state solution. I have urged the United States to lead international efforts to revive the peace process and pledged that the UK will spare no effort in mobilising European Union and Arab states behind decisive moves for peace. I welcome President Obama’s visit to the region next week. I call on Prime Minister Netanyahu, and President Abbas, to demonstrate leadership and courage in working with the international community to secure the peace which is so strongly in the interests of both Israelis and Palestinians.”
~~
I hear he is indemnifying British military personnel based in Cyprus against the IMF/ECB bail out theft. Will contagion cross Europe following this tax on deposits and savings, ie will there be mass withdrawals tomorrow setting off runs on the banks? Ms Lagarde was apparently using Cyprus as a test for doing the same in Spain, Italy and Portugal. She has bitten off more than she can chew.
@ Scourge :
“Habbabkuk. The [Avery Porko] treaty allows for free trade.”
John, could you point me in the right direction to learn more about the Avery Porko Treaty? The best I could find on Google is the following:
“After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower insisted the status of the base remain unchanged, despite new Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s objections.
“Since then, the Cuban government has cashed only one of the rent checks from the U.S. government, and even then, according to Castro, only because of “confusion” in the early days of the leftist revolution. The remaining checks made out to “Treasurer General of the Republic”–a title that ceased to exist after the revolution–have not been cashed.
“The United States argued that the cashing of the single check signified Havana’s ratification of the lease — and that ratification by the new government rendered moot any questions about violations of sovereignty and illegal military occupation.”
*****
1/. You could start by reading the 1903 and 1934 Treaties . They can be found online, together with the two supplementary protocols to the 1903 Treaty. All are quite short documents.
2/. This info on Castro only cashing 1 of the US’s annual payments is not germane.
The amount and the modalities of the annual US payment (and nothing else) are set out in one of the protocols to the 1903 Treaty. The important point is that the payments have to be MADE (which has always been the case). If they are, then there is no breach of the Treaty for that reason; if not, then there is.
To illustrate this : assume that you don’t touch your monthly salary as paid into your bank by your employer. You can’t then sue your employer for breach of contract (ie, not paying the salary established in your contract of employment) by saying that your not taking your salary out of the bank means that the employer hasn’t paid you.
Therefore, whether Castro Cuba cashed in only 1 of the annual payments, or all of them, or indeed none of them, is irrelevant.
There is much more I could write on these two Treaties and international law on Treaties as set out in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the law of treaties, but for the moment I think it’s sufficient to point you in the direction of Article 4 of that Convention (no retroactivity to treaties extant before the entry into force of the Convention) and to what I’ve set out above.
@ Scourge :
Sorry, but on re-reading the Wiki squib you quote, I should add the following : it is not a question of Castro Cuba “ratifying” the Treaties. These were already ratified by the legal Cuban governments in 1903 and 1934. International treaties do not require re-ratification every (or even any) time there is a change of government or régime in one of the Contracting Parties. Nor can a new government denounce (nb – in the legal sense of this word) a Treaty except in accordance with any provisions the Treaty might contain to that effect – and in fact I believe that Castro, although objecting to it, never formally denounced it (again in the leagl sense of the word).
Nice insight Mary on Cyprus – I await the fall of the cards tomorrow morning.
“Habbabkuk, my life isn’t good, and I feel like you’re rubbing my face in the probable fact that your life is a lot better every time you post that. You stated that you put it there to annoy people. Well, it does more than just annoy me, it hurts me.”
@ Clark :
Well, it’s certainly not meant to hurt anyone. And it is only intended to “annoy” those of you who express, through your posts, an unremittingly gloomy, pessimistic, carping and negative outlook on public affairs.
Do cheer up a little! If you’re in reasonable health, if you’re not on the breadline or near to it, if you’ve got a good family and friends, then your life, despite what you might think at the moment, then your life isn’t “not good”. And if you’re in despair about international events, don’t be – just think “bugger them!”.
Over and out, I need to rest my brutal intellect and charge up the old intellectual firepower. 🙂
Rose, Anon, Ben Franklin, and Habbabkuk, thank you.
Rose and Ben, thanks for your supportive messages.
Anon, thanks for that; yes, the pain is a signal that things are wrong and need to be improved. That thought helps.
Habbabkuk, thanks for responding to my earlier complaint
Habbabkuk, our comments crossed. I score quite low on your list of what makes life good. I expect that there are other readers here who score considerably lower. Life is not good for a large proportion of people, that proportion is increasing, and quality of life is falling for the majority. International events are inextricable from the future prospects of our species, and not caring about that seems incomprehensibly callous to me; it’s the fact that too few of the critical people care that is degrading so many lives and the world we live in. In conscience, I would rather die than stop caring.
Clark hang on in there. i wonder if you would be wise to take a wee break from Craig’s Blog, i’m not sure if you do already or not, but i reckon you could write some good poetry, you seem to have right heart for it, or grab a wee camping trip, as old chief Standing bear once wisely said ” Man’s heart long away from nature becomes hard ”
Hope i aint pushing my luck now Clark, but try a fire walk, i walked on fire last weekend up near Lake of Menteith, great bunch of people, non religious, but spiritual stuff, a tad Scary at first.
Be well Clark.