I am pleased that Simon Ostrovsky has been released. He is a decent journalist, who back on 30 October 2007 did a very good piece on Newsnight about the terrible child slavery compelled by the state in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan. They had done some secret filming in Uzbekistan, which took much courage.
There was however one strange thing about Ostrovsky’s film. I was called in to the Newsnight studio in the morning to do a pre-record piece on what I had witnessed of this terrible system of cruel forced labour. I also recounted how I had reported it to government while I was Ambassador there from 2002 to 2004, but the British government had refused to take any action, as had the EU.
But none of my interview was shown in the programme, nor was I mentioned. Instead a New Labour minister was interviewed and he was allowed to say, unchallenged, that the film was absolutely shocking and the British government had no prior idea this was happening; they would now look into it etc. Needless to say they still did nothing, nor has anything ever been done to have child slave cotton banned from the UK. Why do you think Primark is so cheap?
I do not know whether Ostrovsky had any editorial control over the decision to cut the interview which proved the New Labour minister was lying through his teeth.
Murder in Samerkand was in my local library, which was is how I got to hear of CM.
Over the years I have been introduced to many great books ideas paths and perceptions of life through public libraries. Some local authorities, including labour ones, have sought to shut libraries arguing (in private or in public) that its only the middle classes who use them and they can afford to buy books – what tosh. Sorry bit off topic, but mentions of libraries above got me going.
(I am no Maoist but wasn’t the Chairman an assistant librarian; even more off topic but maybe Wes Anderson should make a Young Mao the Librarian biopic.)
RD. 9 16am
Re Robert Tressell’s 1914 book.
“Given I have direct descendants who were house painters, and active in Labour politics, around the same time the book was written it is a matter of no small interest to me.”
I always thought there was something a bit disconnected about your posts. Do you still have a physical body? If so, congratulations. If not are you just channelled or are/were you using one of those gravitational time dilation thingys from Amazon to create a singularity from which to share your wisdom?
Meanwhile back/forward on the info-war front it seems John “You can’t just invade another country on a phoney pretext” Kerry seems to have got a bit agitated about RT. I think you’ll like this one.
http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_04_25/Kerrys-ignorance-in-RT-blunder-unthinkable-for-Cold-War-era-politician-3264/
RT moaning on recently about how they are labelled as pure propaganada and that although they invite Western mainstream voices on they refuse saying they will not appear on a propaganda station so they are caught in a sort of catch 22. Well they had Lord West on didn’t they, which I admit I though was a bit surprising and you can see how our establishment position makes some sense i.e. because by appearing on the programme to take part in an honest debate they thereby subliminally partially legitimise the station and its message; therefore they prefer to stay clear.
But this rather absolute position only really makes sense if we and Russia are fundamentally at odds with one another and we are preparing for a cold war, or worse. I don’t think the situation is that bad and suspect that after a lot of chess, theatre posturing on both sides with some loss of life, but not war – unless there are idiots about) there might be some sort of a partition of the Ukraine (i.e. in addition to the Ukraine).
I like to hear what others think even if it is propaganda, but I prefer dialogue. Unfortunately, it is also true that people tend believe the message which is repeated and which is seen to be associated with those who possess power – but there can’t be that many watching RT in this country, so why do we worry about appearing on it.
Corrected post:
RT moaning on recently about how they are labelled as pure propaganada and that although they invite Western mainstream voices on they refuse saying they will not appear on a propaganda station so they are caught in a sort of catch 22. Well they had Lord West on didn’t they, which I admit I thought was a bit surprising and you can see how our establishment position makes some sense i.e. because by appearing on the programme to take part in an honest debate they thereby subliminally partially legitimise the station and its message; therefore they prefer to stay clear.
But this rather absolute position only really makes sense if we and Russia are fundamentally at odds with one another and we are preparing for a cold war, or worse. I don’t think the situation is that bad and suspect that after a lot of chess, theatre posturing on both sides with some loss of life, but not war – unless there are idiots about) there might be some sort of a partition of the Ukraine (i.e. in addition to Crimea).
I like to hear what others think even if it is propaganda, but I prefer dialogue. Unfortunately, it is also true that people tend believe the message which is repeated and which is seen to be associated with those who possess power – but there can’t be that many watching RT in this country, so why do we worry about appearing on it?
Very droll Sofia – I of course meant relatives from whom I’m a direct descendant for those who couldn’t work it out.
Perhaps you could share your thoughts on Putin admitting that he had troops in Crimea all the time – and why we should believe him now when he says that there are none in Eastern Ukraine. But don’t worry I suspect that after his current state of bluster he will eventually come to heel as the West has started to realise that it’s all about the money when it comes to Putin. Even he will not want to see Russian bonds downgraded to junk (just like when he started) and all those nice Japanese banks withdrawing their credit lines.
“I would argue against it being made compulsory given that it would be a pretty soul less experience if it were taught by someone who did not believe in its central message.”
As you are so proud of your ancestry of painters/decorators, and so you should be, I should be interested to know if you could teach The Ragged-trousered Philanthropists especially the chapter entitled “The Great Money Trick”.
Thanks for the link Sofia to Kerry’s ignorance. As a related matter I am still trying to find out what RD thinks about the legitimacy of the US poking its nose into European affairs through the OSCE, but I’ve only asked four times, so I may still get an answer if I persevere.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/04/netanyahu-continues-vicious/#comment-454346
Having lived in Uzbekistan I must say that the entire cotton problem is actually more complex that it is presented. True, EU has chosen to pretend this does not exist, focusing instead on a bunch of activists who ended up in a Tashkent prison for running an unregistered political organisation. For some strange reason, these guys are presented as the most burning issue for EU.
.
Every year cotton crops bring a substantial part of the country’s budget (around €2 billion). No responsible government would kill this. Every summer, the government announces a big “cotton action” where workers, soldiers, government officers, unemployed, and yes, schoolchildren, all are brought to cotton fields across the country to collect cotton and “build rich Uzbekistan”. High school children, to be precise: you need to be of certain height in order to reach to cotton tree branches.
.
Yes, deaths do happen, almost every year, especially on hot days. Dehydration is dangerous.
.
Can we call this “slavery”? In my opinion no more than, say, compulsory military service, so common for decades after WW2 but which now is being replaced with a professional military. Similarly, there is an ongoing effort in Uzbekistan to do a better labour mapping during the crop season. Sure it is as slow as everything in Uzbekistan, but I already heard from UNICEF a few years back that a few districts in Uzbekistan had introduced proper labour mapping and avoided getting children to the fields.
.
What does the EU or UK do in this respect? As we all know, next to nothing. All the focus is on “the thirteen human rights defenders in Uzbek prisons”. What is needed instead is proper technical cooperation. Development aid. Introduction of mechanical crop collection, for which technology and investment is required, on top of political goodwill on all sides.
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Craig, fingerpointing and whining at Primark will not make a difference, either.
.
What the UK government knows and all that game of appearances is also an entirely different story. Luckily, people have already learned not to believe in whatever ministers say.
John.
RD/ELSO etc is a complex multidimensional multipersonality which runs automatically from a very simple algorythm.
So far, aside from the occasional glitch, it works quite consistently. However it’s controllers fear that long term exposure to the dreaded Craig Murray blog will, one day make it neccessary to wipe it and start again. The main cause for concern is the overheating of the logic circuitry arising from the problematic “Russian invasion” conundrum. It would be so much easier if there were lots of soldiers, explosions and bodies to point to. Those Russians just can’t be trusted to play by the rules.
Here’s an image from the future.
http://punch.photoshelter.com/img/pixel.gif
Sofia
You clearly fell for all that Homo soveticus rubbish – don’t assume that the rest of the world is the same.
what….
this £34 Billion – PLUS £100or so for Trident…
How would you spend £34bn? Paying 5000 nurses for their entire career? Funding free university tuition for all students for a decade? Or on wars that promoted terrorism rather than reduced it?
http://stopwar.org.uk/videos/uk-spent-34bn-on-wars-that-promoted-terrorism-rather-than-reduced-it#.U1uLbYFdXDv
Oops!
Sorry about that dud link.
RD/ELSO etc still functioning, but it’s only a matter of time.
http://punch.photoshelter.com/image/I0000vsmGgLvEMMg
In answer to RD’s interrogative question, No. I do not post on Medialens. I do read the Message Board and the editors’ good essays, which are on this link.
http://www.medialens.org/
Brian, give me 5,000 nurses any day to Trident!
Kashmiri, perhaps a bigger problem is that in building “rich Uzbekistan” means the Karimovs can fund their super-rich lifestyles, while rural villagers and their children are slaves to the trade.
I don’t know if you are aware but there is a story that Islam Karimov is keeping his daughter Gulnara prisoner in the Karimov palace. Does anyone know if this is true? Is she really sneaking out letters like Mary Queen of Scots did from Loch Leven and Tutbury? Or is it more to do with the fact that she’s wanted for money-laundering in Europe?
Kim Petersen the co-editor of Dissident Voice (which I also read regularly) is to be congratulated on this very well reasoned essay.
False Flags: A Possible Aid to Change?
by Kim Petersen / April 26th, 2014
[..]
What it all boils down to is proper information. If the people properly understood how their world really works, how it has always really worked, seismic changes would become inevitable.
The process begins with our education system. We are all routinely propagandized about the “greatness, goodness, and graciousness” of our trusted leaders – instead of being taught the dark truths about these awful people, about the treachery, greed, and indifference to mass slaughter that have been their main character traits since the beginning of recorded history. We have an education system that also fails to explain how our supposedly great armies, police and “intelligence” services all aid and abet these same trusted leaders for wholly self-serving reasons; an education system that fails to explain its own part in the corruption of truth, and how the mainstream media continue the brainwashing at the point where schools leave off.
Perhaps nothing better proves the routine deceit practised by our great trusted leaders, and the vast superstructure of self-interested flunkeys whose parasitic jobs depend on perpetuating the deceit, than the undoubted and widespread use of false flag events. From starting monstrous wars (such as in Vietnam), to maintaining years of state-sponsored terrorism (Northern Ireland); from the “favourite ploys” of so-called intelligence services to the deliberate lying of the mainstream media, the use and promotion of false flags is indisputable. Given that the practice is by nature deceitful, secretive and immoral, as well as being ignored by schoolroom history teachers and the mainstream media, it’s perfectly understandable that so many people remain in the dark about this evil practice.
We need historians to start digging into the murky past of false flags, and investigative journalists to uncover the false flags that are undoubtedly happening now. These dark and sinister practices need to be exposed to the antiseptic glare of bright sunlight. Real change can only happen once the 99% begin to understand that there is no depth of depravity to which our great trusted leaders will not sink, and nothing better proves this than the ongoing and routine use of false flags.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/04/false-flags-a-possible-aid-to-change/
~~~
RD?ELSO etc,
Here’s a State Department expert at work demonstrating how to deal with inconvenient facts which don’t fit the trut, without blowing a fuse. (1 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOnwdmpButo
Next question please.
Kashmiri
I rather doubt your expertise. The cotton shrubs in Uzbekistan grow no higher than three feet, four max. Eight year olds can pick them. I have actually been into the field to give it a try and learn the conditions for myself. Plainly you have not.
Interesting contention that it is no more slavery than compulsory military service. That is, however, not generally visited upon small schoolchildren. I think slavery is appropriate because the workers are paid little or nothing, and a very large amount of cash is made by the oligarchs out of their forced labour. This point is ignored by your analysis – the money doesn’t go to maintain a socialist state, it goes into billionaires’ pockets.
That is why, in 13 years of independence, there has been no move away from the cotton monoculture to an agriculture that provides sustenance for the ordinary people. If you really know Uzbekistan, you will know what you write about technical cooperation and mechanization is nonsense. The agriculture was mechanized – in Soviet times most of the cotton was picked by machine. Nowadays almost none is because the oligarchs realized that free forced labour was cheaper than buying and maintaining cotton harvesters.
Finally there is an absolutely desperate requirement on environmental grounds to move out of the cotton monoculture.
“Trut” …Hah! Try “reality”
John
I have not commented on the situation with Gulnara because I have been consulting lawyers over legal action against her. But this is my brief analysis:
a) Karimov is still in office but no longer in power. That now lies with Mirzayev and Innayatov
b) They are keeping her in detention to avoid embarrassing lawsuits against her in Europe. Various oligarchs – Mirzaeyev, Innoyatov, Azimov, Usmanov – have regained commercial monopolies she had wrested from them
c) The conditions of her detention are less arduous than she is making out – I am sure they didn’t have her beaten up then hand her mobile phone back to tweet about it
d) Obviously, her detention is unlawful and I am very worried they will remove the potential embarrassment by “suiciding” her. She ought to be dealt with properly by courts, both in Uzbekistan and relating to the investigations in Sweden, Switzerland, France etc.
Craig, thanks very much for that summary. I somewhat suspected b) but was not aware that Mirzayev and the other oligarchs were controlling the Karimovs. Agree with d). There is too much extra-judicial action in the world today. Good luck with the legal action.
You know these OSCE monitors that all the press are saying have been detained…
http://news.sky.com/story/1249660/ukraine-observers-to-be-used-as-human-shield
Well turns out they aren’t OSCE monitors according to the OSCE but an independent German led team
https://twitter.com/OSCE
Not to say they shouldn’t be released in any case. For what it is worth, RT reports that Russia is attempting to get the team freed.
Oh no, not Usmanov’s fingers in the pie again.
‘In the world of Uzbek politics, family ties are never far from the surface. Prime Minister Shavkat Mirzayev, another leading contender for succession, is seen as having Moscow’s backing after his nephew last October married the niece of Russia’s richest man, Alisher Usmanov, who is of Uzbek origin and close to the Kremlin.
“That was a good alliance,” said Ms. Tulaganova, the Uzbek opposition journalist.’
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/world/asia/rumors-set-off-succession-debate-in-uzbekistan.html?_r=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavkat_Mirziyoyev
Is the other one mentioned here?
‘The person behind the attack is probably the chief of the Uzbek National Security Service (SNB) Rustam Inoyatov.’
http://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2013-11-06/political-crisis-uzbekistan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rustam_Inoyatov
Be very afraid.
More lives lost and families wrecked. Will the wars ever end?
Breaking news.
Crash victims feared to be British
Five military personnel killed when the UK helicopter they were travelling in crashed in southern Afghanistan are feared to be British.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/04/simon-ostrovsky/#comment-454359
I noticed that the name of the author on the article about False Flags on the above comment has been corrected. It was written by John Andrews and not by Kim Petersen, the editor of the blog.
False Flags: A Possible Aid to Change?
April 26th, 2014 by John Andrews
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/04/false-flags-a-possible-aid-to-change/
From a Continental French language newspaper yesterday (my translation):
“Israel suspends the peace process.
………..Finally, a Fatah heavyweight Jibril Rajoub declared that he was “confident that the peace talks would continue because Hamas has changed and accepts the existence of Israel within its pre-Six Day War borders (June 1967). An affirmation denied by the Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Issam El Bardawil, according to whom his organization “will never accept the Zionist entity, will not deal with it and will not be part of a government which will accept it.”……..”
*********************
Any comments on the Hamas spokesman’s utterance?
Craig
Any speculation on who is backing the oligarch’s who I suspect have friendly relations with Moscow?
“In answer to RD’s interrogative question, No. I do not post on Medialens.”
Well that does surprise me!
Why does it surprise you? Suggest you mind your own business in future.
Mary
Probably because Resident Dissident thinks you’re the sort of person who wouldn’t be able to resist posting on Medialens?
BTW, the business of anyone who posts on the net inevitably becomes, to some extent, the business of all the readers. Up to and including brown hens that no longer lay and the orientation of one’s bedroom 🙂
Craig,
I do not doubt your expertise, however I am worried that your writings are slightly biased. Not sure if your personal vendetta against Karimov might play into this? The point with oligarchs making money of cheap/free labour is a valid one, but please, is that anything unique to Uzbekistan? Still, a substantial amount of this money goes to state budget anyway. I bet a higher proportion than Starbucks in the UK (Google how Starbucks exploits labourers).
How ever I hate corporations, nether me nor you can stop their owners from getting rich. The suffering Interesting, however, that Western corporations have “principal shareholders” and “CEO-s” and Eastern corporations are run by “oligarchs”.
As to poverty, your playing an emotional string is unjust. I didn’t have a chance to make a comparison personally, but an officer with an international organisation with long regional experience told me that as much as Uzbek villages are poor, there was never *that* level of poverty as, say, in “democratic” Kazakhstan. Which I find plausible, having seen villages both in Uzbekistan and in “democratic” Kyrgyzstan.
This is not to say Uzbek villages are not poor. It’s only you are blowing the matter out of proportion. Uzbekistan villages do not have to be richer than average for the region.
Your saying that the cotton exports do not support the state budget is nonsense. Tell me where does the Uzbek state budget is funded from? Hint: not from personal tax, because official salaries are minimal; nor from business taxes because businesses are only emerging in Uzbekistan.
So-called “technical cooperation” is one way of exerting pressure for political or economic gains, some institutions, like World Bank for example, have truly mastered this method. Your discounting it is based on…?
As to Gulnara, unfortunately I have no information apart from what is published. But I am afraid with her detention Gazprom has lost (temporarily?) direct access to one of their focal persons in Uzbekistan.