Opium production in Afghanistan has increased by 4,000% since the start of the US/UK/Others occupation. 4,000%. Really. For the first time, this year production of processed opium exceeded 7,500 tons. This industrial manufacture would be impossible without the active participation both of the puppet government we installed, and the command structures of our intelligence services. The Karzai and Dostum families, alongside other of our clients, have become terribly wealthy. Secret funds of intelligence services have swelled.
Opium production amounts to a staggering 60% of Afghanistan’s GDP. Yet we have that pompous fool Jon Simpson on the BBC opining what a great success our occupation was, how Afghanistan is transformed.
The UK spent 37 billion pounds of money we do not have on the occupation of Afghanistan, when our health service is creaking and hungry children are reliant on foodbanks. That 37 billion is a drastic underestimate – it is based on “marginal costing”, the extra cost of operating the troops and equipment in Afghanistan compared to the cost of keeping them on Salisbury Plain. The fact you would not need this massive offensive army and all that equipment, were you not conducting worldwide simultaneous invasions, is not taken into account at all. The true cost of the Afghan occupation is many times higher than 37 billion.
Bear that in mind when you see Cameron posturing about a routine EU subscription cost of 1.7 billion. There are unlimited funds for attacking and occupying Johnny Foreigner, but money spent on co-operation with other nations is an absurd waste. A view to be reinforced by increasing racist rhetoric about being “swamped” by the Eastern Europeans who are now adding so much to our economy and our culture.
There is an irony here because one of the major reasons for the EU contribution recalculation was the UK government’s decision to include, for the first time, an estimate for illegal trade – in drugs and prostitution – in UK GDP figures, thus producing a spurious blip in economic growth. Prostitution alone was estimated at 6.5 billion pounds, which makes it one of our major industries, while the drugs figure was still higher and represented a direct contribution to UK GDP from the result of our Afghan occupation.
So it was all worthwhile after all! Those soldiers did not die in vain! When you add to that, the fact that the prostitution figure itself is boosted by the many unfortunates, mostly women, who enter the trade to fund a heroin habit, you have a perfect circle of serendipity.
Who can possibly claim that UK policy is unplanned and immoral?
The world actually needs opium cultivation.Instead of growing it for big pharma in the home counties or Australian outback we should just let Afghanistan grow legally and reward the farmers handsomely to control the trade so that illegal drugs are reduced.It won’t happen because just as junkies depend on the white powder,the intelligence agencies depend on the invisible profit it produces.Wherever the CIA is operating thats where the best stuff comes from.Golden triangle when the Vietnam war was ongoing and then the death squad era in Central America when the cocaine trade really took off.
So Gideon pimps our GDP and the EU muscle in to steal the cream.Sounds like gangland.
I’m sure that the UK’s cut from the Afghan opium trade more than makes up for the £37 billion, let’s not bother factoring all the dead & maimed, as our Government doesn’t as it couldn’t care less; the native american were gifted smallpox infected blankets & later oceans of rum to make all their men drunkards, countless Chinese were turned into heroin addicts by the British, so it’s hardly anything new that the British State will do & use anything for profit.
There are 13 million people living below the poverty line in Britain. In Manchester, one of the country’s fastest-growing cities, 38 per cent of children live in poverty. And the situation is only getting worse, as the last few years have seen extreme changes to welfare support, wage increases below the rate of inflation, and food prices steadily rising.
Last year alone, almost a million emergency food parcels were given out across the country by foodbank charity The Trussell Trust –up from 347,000 the year before.
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Yet we’ve spent at least £37 billion pounds in Afghanistan, under the false pretence, of democracy and freedom. At this very moment we’re spending £3 million pounds per day, on a war in Iraq, and possibly Syria, have we learned nothing from our previous sorte in Iraq, apparently not.
War diverts attention from a governments domestic problems, its also very lucrative for big business, who are generally aligned with that countries government, as long a there’s a healthy profit in it for them.
Afghanistan, was/is, one of those lucrative wars, with oil/gas rare earth elements and of course opium, all up for grabs, but we needed a reason to invade Afghanistan, and dare I say it 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden, gave us a big one, even if it was not what it seemed.
The UK, lost 453 personnel, and the US didn’t fair any better with 2210 army personnel losing their lives, it was Henry Kissinger who said the “The soldier is a dumb animal to be used as a government sees fit” or words to that effect.
“Sounds like gangland”
That’s because it is.
Please Craig, could you respond to my e-mail and internal message.
Are you currently a member of the SNP or do you envisage that in the near future?
James McLaren, (not McCarthy)
Heroin is more bulky than blood diamonds but it beats cash for untraceable activity.
“On March 13, this reporter contacted investigative historian Robert Morrow, whose research into the murder of CIA-sanctioned pilot Barry Seal is unparalleled. Seal claims to have run drugs for U.S. intelligence.
When asked about official criminality associated with Afghan’s opium business, Morrow replied: “U.S. government involvement in the drug trade ebbs and flows depending on a particular administration’s level of corruption. If a Bush or Clinton is in office, you better believe it’s rip-roaring.”
Morrow provided more insights. “Or, maybe their complicity is so institutionalized that presidents don’t even control it. Intelligence agencies and the military do. The government has many faces. One DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] agent could be entirely honest while another is on the take from drug cartels and the government.”
Delving into deep state secrets, Morrow stressed: “The people who ran all the drugs into America during the Iran-Contra era were George Bush, Sr., CIA Director William Casey, Oliver North and both Clintons. Airports like the one in Mena, Arkansas that Bill and Hillary operated stretched all across the southern U.S. You need to remember that Barry Seal [who allegedly flew more cocaine into America than any pilot in history] was personal friends with Bill Clinton. He also spoke with Bush, Sr. on a weekly basis.”
– See more at: http://americanfreepress.net/?p=16169#sthash.lvJ0Z9q1.dpuf
And yet they also had directives to eliminate cannabis production, destroying millions of acres, more to do with eliminating the diverse strains of this plant available in the wild, so as to make patenting it easier for big-pharma and agri-business to gain future control over this abundantly useful plant. Almost a unique plant too, as one of very few, the other notable one being hops, which have distinct male and female forms. Yielding everything from fibre, far more efficient than forestry -a single crop in one year produces more than 30 years of forest growth, producing oil, that uniquely remains viscous at very low temperatures, producing highly nutritious foodstuff in the form of edible seeds, which can even be ground to make flour for bread, and of course the psychotropic and physical effects of the glistening resin it produces, a wonder medicine, the only cure for glaucoma, relieving multiple sclerosis symptoms enabling normal functioning, a decongestant and a non-addictive rival for the highly damaging tobacco, whilst producing a far more intense relaxation.
What is this “increasingly racist rhetoric about being “swamped” by the Eastern Europeans?
Give us some examples? I mean from serious people, not crackpots and nutters or fake nationalists controlled by the security service.
Or are you merely asserting that that opposition to mass immigration is “racist” by definition? But in any case, in what way is such “rhetoric” now “increasingly” racist”?
And what is it, exactly, that these Eastern Europeans are now adding so much of “to our economy and our culture”?
If you increase the population by many millions through immigration you will have to build more houses, maternity hospitals, schools, roads, etc. That’s an addition to the economy obviously. But is that that what you are referring to and, if so, is that such a great thing even if it means marginalizing an increasing proportion of the native work-force and lowering their standard of living, driving up house prices and thereby increasing the cost of living and raising the need for infrastructure spending and thereby increasing taxes?
Yes, yes, yes… About the stupid wars on drugs and “terror” (really one war) I couldn’t agree more. Both are a fiction and a cover story for the New Great Game. On the other hand, I really can’t understand how anyone is supposed to view the EU as some kind of cuddly, progressive alternative rather than just a different financier-led arm of empire. After all, it is “the troika” (one part European Commission, one part ECB) who have brought ruthless “austerity measures” to so many of its own poorest member nations. And it is also the EU who are secretly negotiating away our rights to corporations under the pretext of ‘free trade’ deals TTIP CETA and TISA. Certainly we should stop wasting public money funding pointless wars that do nothing but destroy lives whilst feeding the coffers of the military-industrial complex, but why continue to waste further money propping up that other destructive corporate behemoth based in Brussels?
The war bill funded by the taxpayer = Endless war. A minority will benefit, the usual types. I’d like to see a study based on the actual real cost of the afghan occupation versus the money made by those involved in supply etc. I wonder what the return is on 100% taxpayer funds versus the money made by the minority. Taxpayer pays for the slaughter private interest benefit massively.
Added to this £37 Billion should be the cost of rehabilitating returning soldiers, with missing or damaged body parts. Selly Oak hospital is pretty much devoted to the job. Some will require life-long care, not to mention disability pensions. Is this treatment cost just taken from the NHS budget? Does that mean the government can brag about how much they are spending on the NHS, whereas in fact it’s the cost of dealing with war-wounded?
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It has long been understood that we would be far better served by buying up all the illegal drugs produced (particularly cocaine from Colombia etc.), instead of waging this idiotic “war on drugs”, which is really just an excuse for yet more military adventurism.
Buying up the opium from Afghanistan in the first place would surely have produced them with a good living, and supplying the world with the necessary medical opium. Not to mention saving vast numbers of lives, expenditure, repression by religious throwbacks, and having the entire region destabilised.
Last man standing. Pt ….. How many more wars?
This was the last man out of Helmand. Essential always to stress the image of the butcher’s apron.
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9819873.ece/alternates/w460/Afghanistan-PA.jpg
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-last-exit-the-union-flag-is-lowered-british-troops-depart-and-afghanistans-next-chapter-begins-9819826.html
On the heroin trade, just interested if you have a sense of how it leaves Aghanistan… some though Iran, some through Pakistan, and some through Uzbekistan; and presumably if the latter accounts for most of the export, the Karimovs are skimming plenty from this business.
No lessons are ever learned.
U.S. Sends Planes Armed with Depleted Uranium to Middle East
By David Swanson
The U.S. Air Force says it is not halting its use of Depleted Uranium weapons, has recently sent them to the Middle East, and is prepared to use them.
A type of airplane, the A-10, deployed this month to the Middle East by the U.S. Air National Guard’s 122nd Fighter Wing, is responsible for more Depleted Uranium (DU) contamination than any other platform, according to the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW). “Weight for weight and by number of rounds more 30mm PGU-14B ammo has been used than any other round,” said ICBUW coordinator Doug Weir, referring to ammunition used by A-10s, as compared to DU ammunition used by tanks.
http://warisacrime.org/content/us-sends-planes-armed-depleted-uranium-middle-east
I had a question. Several actually. So just a reminder:
What is this “increasingly racist rhetoric about being “swamped” by the Eastern Europeans”?
Give us some examples? I mean from serious people, not crackpots and nutters or fake nationalists controlled by the security service.
Or are you merely asserting that opposition to mass immigration is “racist” by definition? But in any case, in what way is such “rhetoric” now “increasingly” racist?
And what is it, exactly, that these Eastern Europeans are now adding so much of “to our economy and our culture”?
If you increase the population by many millions through immigration you will have to build more houses, maternity hospitals, schools, roads, etc. That’s an addition to the economy obviously. But is that what you are referring to and, if so, is that such a great thing even if it means marginalizing an increasing proportion of the native work-force and lowering their standard of living; driving up house prices and thereby increasing the cost of living; and raising the need for infrastructure spending and thereby increasing taxes?
I referred to Sir Nicholas Winton earlier. At the bottom of this report is a audio of him speaking on Radio 4 Today. He is now 105.
‘When asked by the BBC what he made of today’s world, Sir Nicholas responded: “I don’t think we’ve ever learnt from the mistakes of the past…
“The world today is now in a more dangerous situation than it has ever been and so long as you’ve got weapons of mass destruction which can finish off any conflict, nothing is safe any more.”‘
Nicholas Winton honoured by Czechs for saving children from Nazis
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29798434
London, apparently, has been hit by a Romanian crime wave, a mere 68,000 Romanian residents accounting for 27,725 arrests over the past five years for offences including rape and murder. Of course not every arrest may have led to a conviction. But still, the statistics are worrying, and certainly raise questions as to the value of the cultural contribution being made by some East Europeans in Britain.
Here’s a nice bit of Scotch cultural enhancement thanks to the Romanian influx and a non-native parasite.
Obviously the Police Community Support Officer concerned was not raised in the indigenous culture of the UK, otherwise he would have been familiar with the injunction: “PLEASE ADJUST YOUR DRESS BEFORE LEAVING.”
@CanSpeccy: “Of course not every arrest may have led to a conviction. ”
In fairness, not every crime results in an arrest either…
I believe Jon Simpson likes his women young.
Isn’t his wife about 60 years younger than him?
Just for the record, i’m not suggesting that he became a reporter of choice of the establishment because of evidence they have of his liking for very young women.
Good point, Glenn.
The London borough of Hackney is reported to have 1484 CCTV cameras but a crime clear-up rate of only 22%. So if that typical for London as a whole and if Romanian criminals are at least as good as anyone else at evading detection, the implication is rather stunning.
Here’s the link for Hackney’s crime clear-up rate.
19 years younger than him. He’s 70 now and they married in 1996. John Simpson’s books are far better than his tv appearances btw – IMHO.
Another bullseye, Craig.
All that lovely heroin can now get out of Afghanistan much quicker thanks to the new roads our boys have helped build over the last 13 years.
Job well done, lads.
“Whatever we choose to do, we need to act fast. The Left needs to gets its act together. Another 10 years of capitalist crisis and economic stagnation and the political landscape may be unrecognizable”
http://newint.org/blog/2014/10/28/russell-brand-liberal-majority/
https://twitter.com/thereaIbanksy/status/526905390093832192
Hullo Craig,
I’m sure, what with you being a keen historian, that you’re familiar with the opium wars I and II. These were undertaken by His Majesty’s armed forces for the sole purpose of forcing opium upon the long-suffering people of China, and all at the behest of the world’s greatest drug kingpin, David Sassoon, who was furious that the Manchu authorities had declared his product illegal. Or to put it another way, the UK partnered with a drug kingpin, and all to sell drugs and make profit. Why do we imagine that now is any different? I put it to you that the current bonzo opium crop was always the point of the exercise.
Between: the obviousness of billions and billions of dollars profit (all laundered through Western banks like HSBC, founded precisely after the opium wars and to the same purpose), along with the ability to then degrade, subvert, and otherwise sap the will of the nations that the smack is subsequently directed to (Russia and Iran most likely); and the West’s we’re-only-here-to-do-good bullshit (an unsurprisingly miserable failure since we don’t actually give a shit) one of them’s on a hiding to nothing as the real reason we’re there.
Clearly, the smack was the point of the exercise. And all of those brave soldiers who died, all the maimed veterans, all the widows, all the fatherless children, here’s the truth: your loved ones died for nothing, nothing beyond lies told by greedy merciless drug-dealing scum and their banker partners.
And beyond this ugly truth lays an even uglier one: we are the bad guys, devils no different to the righteous English sons of bitches of the nineteenth century who killed without mercy and gleefully smashed and burned every Buddhist temple they found. The true victims of this century’s opium wars are the people of Afghanistan who did nothing to deserve the death and misery we inflicted upon them. God pity them because we certainly won’t.
Mike
“All that lovely heroin can now get out of Afghanistan much quicker thanks to the new roads our boys have helped build over the last 13 years.”
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Can we infer from the above that you believe Afghanistan would better off with its pre-2000 infrastructure?
I’m a legislative assistant, Here is the view outside my office at 9:30 AM, (about 15 minutes before the ‘crazed’ gunman). Just a shit ton of cops hanging out by west block for no reason.”
“I know two things they aren’t telling the press/public. Hopefully, you dipshits will take this seriously because my career is on the line.”
“If you see/hear that a legislative assistant died, had an accident, committed suicide whatever I’d like to say for the record that I’ve never wanted to kill myself. I take my job serious, but I ask honest questions.”
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I’m not quite sure what to make of this, see what you think.
http://2012thebigpicture.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/anonymous-photos-taken-15-minutes-prior-to-ottawa-shooting/
And here’s I am thinking the UK is covertly anti-Muslim, what was I thinking.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d19_1414420318