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.
“Fresh evidence is revealed today about how MI6 and the CIA were told through secret channels by Saddam Hussein’s foreign minister and his head of intelligence that Iraq had no active weapons of mass destruction.
Tony Blair told parliament before the war that intelligence showed Iraq’s nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programme was “active”, “growing” and “up and running”.
A special BBC Panorama programme tonight will reveal how British and US intelligence agencies were informed by top sources months before the invasion that Iraq had no active WMD programme, and that the information was not passed to subsequent inquiries.
It describes how Naji Sabri, Saddam’s foreign minister, told the CIA’s station chief in Paris at the time, Bill Murray, through an intermediary that Iraq had “virtually nothing” in terms of WMD.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/18/panorama-iraq-fresh-wmd-claims
According to my sources they thought Murray was joking…..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Murray
Thanks Habba for saving me a reply – it makes you wonder what they teach in troll school nowadays. Certainly nothing about the likes of Orwell and many others who fought against fascism in Spain and stood against the appeasement of Hitler – or those like Koestler and Muggeridge who saw through all the bullshit of Stalin’s fellow travellers and useful idiots. My grandfather who joined the Labour Party in the 1920s and fought the Nazis would be truly horrified as what now supposedly passes for left wing thinking in this country. Quite frankly if Scourge sees himself as left wing radical – then perhaps I should take being called a far right reactionary by hime as somthing of a compliment.
” My grandfather who joined the Labour Party in the 1920s and fought the Nazis would be truly horrified as what now supposedly passes for left wing thinking in this country”
Do you have Irish blood, RD? I would be curious about your opinions wrt Michael Collins.
A node
The fourth argument says “we in the West should not hijack the struggles of those opposing the dictators but rather be supportive and listen to what they want and require.”
I will listen to what the Syrian opposition to Assad want – they want arms to fight the Russian arms supplied to Assad. Much as I dislike David Cameron I don’t regard him as a dictator in the Assad mode and there is certainly no popular upswelling to remove him that cannot be satisfied by democratice means. I should also remind you that Assad is in breach of numerous UN resolutions and is hardly upholding the UN declaration of Human Rights.
Do you have Irish blood, RD? I would be curious about your opinions wrt Michael Collins.
Only the tiniest drop from the other side of my family. I don’t know a lot about Michael Collins – but I’m not sure I buy the sell out line put forward by many Irish Republicans – I suspect he got the best deal that was available. He was certainly a better man than de Valera.
RD @ 10:58
I have something near 40% Irish and they were the foremost at racial integration, marrying black and NA’s with greater alacrity than their peers. One of my ancestors, Crowfoot was an adept diplomat and warrior who made the best deal with Canadians, similar to Collins. Iconoclasts are near to my sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, and I deduced a greater percentage of Irish blood in your veins based upon your grit and persistence. Is there some significance to your remaining 99%?
Clark-
Don’t let the bombast of Ed Vulliamy, or the corrupt shenanigans of the hedgies, depress you too much. I don’t often agree with you but your honesty & decency are self evident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiCRZLr9oRw
I concur OldMark.
You are avoiding a direct answer to my simple question. Instead you repeatedly imply that the West’s intervention in Syria is justified on democratic grounds. You say:
Well, I’ve got news for you – the opposition to Assad is a minority of the Syrian people:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/17/syrians-support-assad-western-propaganda
Bearing that in mind, please read the following statement carefully and tell me if you disagree with any part of it:
The U.K. is illegally aiding terrorist groups to violently overthrow a government which is supported by the majority of Syrians.
If you agree that the statement is accurate, then please tell me why Syria shouldn’t, for example, arm and encourage a violent uprising by native American Indians.
Haibabacus (la vita in culo)
you memory is somewhat leaky. How about the Bushite dynasty? Quite similar to the the Assads or would you disagree? Perhaps bashir is just trying to immitate the great american model of succession.
Your babble about the treaties concerning Guantanamo is the usual swill for the pigs. Should they be valid for ever??
The more the bloodied handed Bliar calls for more war! war! in the Middle East and Syria in particular, the less the response will be. Who will follow advice from this discredited individual who by rights should actually be held in some cold cell?
His words were allowed to be heard on Radio 4 this morning. He was repeating his ‘Je ne regrette rien’ spiel yet again.
Blair: Iraq uprising would have been ‘worse than Syria’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21839884
habba,resdis and kempe are cryptos, beware what lies beneath their yarmulke !
Don’t you just love Dennis Skinner’s aside yesterday which punctured the puffed- up pocket pol Cleggover yesterday afternoon.
The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Nick Clegg): I am delighted to support this motion and welcome the royal charter.
Last time the three party leaders addressed the House on this issue it was because we could not agree; this time, thankfully, it is because we have. I would like to thank your office, Mr Speaker, and the Clerks of the House for accommodating today’s unusual procedure. I am also delighted to see that all sides are claiming victory today. If everyone acts like this after the general election, they will have trouble fitting us all into Downing street.
Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab): It won’t be you.
The Deputy Prime Minister: The hon. Gentleman is always on cue, even at the most solemn moments.
Royal Charter on Press Conduct
Emergency debate (Standing Order No. 24)
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130318/debtext/130318-0002.htm
I am deeply honoured to be mentioned thus on Charles Crawford’s blog (blogoir!)
What the critics say…
I have just skimmed CC’s Blogoir. How pretentious and what a load of (boring) twaddle
Mary, commenting via Craig Murray’s blog, April 2009
~~~
I see that he has a Craig Murray category –
The Craig Murray Saga
http://charlescrawford.biz/N5A207442111
and that he is multi-lingual in several languages including Polish. Interesting?
This says it all in FAQ
Did you support the Iraq intervention?
Yes.
Why?
Because evil dangerous regimes which brutalise whole populations and threaten global order need to be stopped.
Karel taxes me as follows :
“you memory is somewhat leaky. How about the Bushite dynasty? Quite similar to the the Assads or would you disagree? Perhaps bashir is just trying to immitate the great american model of succession.
Your babble about the treaties concerning Guantanamo is the usual swill for the pigs. Should they be valid for ever??”
Re the Bushes – it is of course true that both Bush the father and Bush the son were Presidents. Your knowledge of history is admirable but your inability to distinguish between the processes by which the Bushes on the one hand, and the Assads on the other, became Presidents is to be regretted. As is your apparent overlooking of the eight year interval between the Presidencies of Bush senior and Bush junior, occupied by one Clinton. You have perhaps heard of Clinton? If not, there’s a long article on him in Wikipedia, which you could read.
Re the US-Cuba treaties : of course you’re free to carp, but to call the readers of this blog “pigs” (which you appear to do by implication) is unkind of you.
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La vita è bella, life is good!
Syria’s opposition National Coalition has chosen a prime minister to head a government for rebel-held regions.
Guess what?
He’s an USA citizen.
Well I never!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21834632
Mark Piggott
I was on tne team for the whole Shetland/Faeroe boundary negotiation. I actually got told off by Douglas Hurd for a proposal I concocted with MI6 to bug the Danish delegation. Hurd insisted we could not spy on EU members.
Men in frocks Pt 985….
The cardinals have been ringing the colour changes this week. Red, purple, black with red piping and today rich gold with golden braid embellishment and silvery white mitres. The golden robes (chasubles?) show no tear or blood stains however.
Whoever makes and supplies these costumes must be making a mint, or perhaps the Vatican people outsource to China or the Far East.
What nonsense. Theatre. http://www.catholicdoors.com/courses/roman.htm
I spotted Kirchner, Mugabe, many rich Arabs and, representing the UK, the Duke of Gloucester. Who he? Oh probably head honcho in the royal freemasonry gang.
Here is Monbiot in excellent form. He will get a lot of flak.
In the war on the poor, Pope Francis is on the wrong side
In Latin America a new Inquisition has betrayed Catholic priests who risk their lives to stand up to tyrants – as I’ve witnessed
The Guardian, Tuesday 19 March 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/19/war-on-pope-francis-modern-inquisition
Any comments?
Who supplied the ‘rebels’ with the weapon?
Syrian rebels ‘use chemical weapon’
Syrian state media say rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad have fired a chemical weapon in the north of the country.
“Terrorists launched a missile containing chemical products into the region of Khan al-Assal in the province of Aleppo, killing 15 people, mainly civilians”, Sana news agency said
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21841217
Since Obomber authorized secret support for Syrian terrorists the Syrian economy has been wrecked and Syrian families driven into poverty, displaced or murdered.
It is of course the Ha-Irgun Ha-Tzvai Ha-Leumi be-Eretz Yisrael mantra of Polish Zionist ideologue Vladimir Jabotinsky, the father of Israel’s right wing observation that a ‘sharp blow’ will easily fracture the ‘Arab world fragile mosaic’ while the West can be guaranteed to ‘fuel the fires’ of conflict.
We recall, “the Assad clan was long a target of jihadist wrath, described as godless tyrants oppressing good Muslims, in bed with the heretical Shia of Iran.
While America and Britain smash ‘Occupy’ protesters of inequality, crush protest demonstrators in ‘two seas’ Bahrain, support torture and child labor in Uzbekistan, watch blindly as Palestinians are murdered and stress kill disabled and sick people on an ‘austerity’ illusion, Syria’s government is demonized by the 2011 Hama legacy.
Meanwhile our myopic brained trio at this place talk about human rights.
Bah…. Humbug
In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism and skepticism and humbug and we shall want to live more musically.
Vincent Van Gogh
Yesterday
Hinkley Point C nuclear emissions ‘underestimated’
Hinkley Point C proposal EDF wants to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point
Radioactive emissions from the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear plant have been underestimated, campaigners claim. The Stop Hinkley group said reactors will discharge more radioactive waste into the Severn Estuary.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21827409
Today
New nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point C is approved
Hinkley Point A, near Bridgwater Mr Davey said the project was of “crucial national importance”
The first of a planned new generation of nuclear power plants in the UK has been given approval.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21839684
Today and ongoing
Power at Fukushima nuclear fuel ponds ‘partially restored’
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes says the concern is about the pumps that drive the cooling system
Related Stories
Long road to nuclear clean-up
Fukushima ‘increased cancer risk’
Q&A: Health effects of radiation
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21840080
@ Mary (12h27) :
“Whoever makes and supplies these costumes must be making a mint, or perhaps the Vatican people outsource to China or the Far East.”
….and must be providing employment for few people, whether in Europe or the Far East, which I think you would agree is a good thing in these times of high unemployment.
You also enquired about the Duke of Gloucester (“Who he?).
The Duke of Gloucester is a graandchild of King George V, a cousin of Her Majesty the Queen and a thoroughly good fellow. Arcitect by training.
His Parliamentary annuity id entirely repaid by The Queen from her private funds.
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La vita è bella, life is good! (info gladly supplied)
“..a few people…”
In case anyone wants to see or hear the ‘monster’ who describes someone else as a ‘monster’ he’s here. Warning. Scary if you go to full screen.
Blair: Iraq uprising would have been ‘worse than Syria’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21839884
John Goss Could you tell us how the protest against Guantanamo at the weekend went?
Mary – have you had a chance to check out the Duke of Gloucester yet?
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La vit è bella, life is good!
Of course I know who the D of G is. Yet another of the royal hangers-on and a parasite like the rest of the bunch living off our backs.
Just been looking up to see what he gets up to. Recent activity includes unveiling statue of buzzards in Malvern and a meeting about the location for the remains of Richard III. Earth shattering stuff.
Not much of a provenance either. His papa – another Harry.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2267353/The-night-Prince-Harry-came-blows-lover-shared-brother-Not-namesake.html
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose……
“Syrian state media say”
Oh so it must be true – they also do a nice line in the annihilation of their opponents.
“Yet another of the royal hangers-on and a parasite like the rest of the bunch living off our backs.”
But somewhat strangely this logic doesn’t apply to Prince Bashar of Bloodlust.
Resident Dissident.
You have (apparently) forgotten to answer my question (again). I’ve kept it simple.
Can you see any inaccuracies in this statement:
The U.K. is illegally aiding terrorist groups to violently overthrow a government which is supported by the majority of Syrians.
I was surprised when RD responded to my question. No follow-up, but just the same…………