The Labour Party is being remarkably coy about releasing the actual result of its Scottish accounting unit leadership election, giving only a percentage. The entirely complacent unionist media is complicit in what amounts to a deception. The stunning truth is that in a one person, one vote election among the entire membership of the Labour Party in Scotland plus trades union supporters, Dugdale won with 5,217 votes (out of a claimed electorate of 21,000, many of whom do not exist or could not be arsed to choose between two right wing numpties).
UPDATE: A second Labour figure just rang me to assure me my information – which was from a good source – is wrong. She would not give the actual figure and only said it was “higher”. I offered to take down the post and publish an accurate figure if she would give it, but this was declined.
John Goss @ 12.16
Evweryone’s lying but the Russians. Wow. And look what the Tooth Fairy left under my pillow.
Returning to Earth –
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/18/jeremy-corbyn-rivals-chase-impossible-dream
Excellent critique by George Monbiot.
“Right now, of course. In any conflict, that concern is paramount. One way to address that is to stop shooting and negotiate, before it gets any worse.”
Is it your view that the Americans and Ukrainians are doing their utmost to secure a negotiated settlement?
It certainly seems to me that the Russians have directed their energies towards such an outcome.
The Americans and Ukrainians seem much fonder of making increasingly bellicose statements. Plenty to choose from.
Who would bear the greater responsibility for an escalation.
Those who engage in bellicose brinkmanship, or those who seek a negotiated settlement?
Radio-4 currently running a sustained antisemitism slur against Corbyn. Two callers on the trot just happen to have such reservations as their major concerns. That really is going with the main concerns of the country – almost everyone I meet says, “That Corbyn would be OK, but doesn’t he love Hamas, hate Jews, and have a bunch of white supremacist mates?”
The presenter keeps interrupting him, in order to allow Corbyn “the opportunity” to withdraw his supposed previous support for such views. Unbelievable.
Herbie; What I said:
“Right now, of course. In any conflict, that concern is paramount. One way to address that is to stop shooting and negotiate, before it gets any worse.”
What you said:
Is it your view that the Americans and Ukrainians are doing their utmost to secure a negotiated settlement?
No-one’s stopped shooting yet. One thing at a time.
It certainly seems to me that the Russians have directed their energies towards such an outcome.
Here it is from the horse’s
assmouth:http://novorossia.today/russia-not-seeking-confrontation-but-will-defend-its-interests-putin/
It’s all about national interests. Even God’s Own Anointed Tsar says so. And Mother Russia’s interests include a naval base on the Black Sea, full logistical support for it, and the Donbass coalfield and industrial complex. To say nothing of the dynamic entrepreneurial city of Donetsk.
THAT’s the outcome the energies are being directed towards.
Still, enough feeding the persecuted Russian populaion of fascist Craigorsk oblast…
Ba’al Zevul; “the persecuted Russian populaion of fascist Craigorsk oblast…”
Tut, tut, resorting to Fred like behaviour ?
I think most sane people would agree that the American and Ukrainian approach is bellicosity and brinkmanship.
Look at Breedlove.
You generally find that when one party is hoping for escalation whilst blaming the other for it.
It would be very difficult to argue that the US has pursued negotiations with anything even remotely close to the energy the Russians have shown.
Should the whole thing kick off I’ll be blaming those who stoked things up, rather than those who sought a negotiated setlement.
Sorry, Macky. 🙂 But not very sorry.
Meanwhile, the borders of Mother Russia creep slowly outwards:
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/74201
After Russia recognized South Ossetia’s independence from Georgia in 2008, Russian troops guarding the tiny land’s claim to sovereignty and, by extension, its allegiance to Moscow, have been putting up fences and demarcation signage in the area. Tbilisi has protested against the continued “creeping annexation” as barbed-wire or metal-bar fences have cut through the properties of Georgian villagers, often separating houses from their orchards across what South Ossetia and Russia claim is an international border.
That’s negotiation, Israeli-style.
A wholly neutral, unbiased and nonconfrontational source utterly unrelated to the Russian State reports:
http://sputniknews.com/business/20101013/160937600.html
Convenient, that annexation of Abkhazia, Wasn’t it?
“Even God’s Own Anointed Tsar”
If you mean Putin he was elected by his own people and maintains a >60% approval-rating. Maybe you meant Blair.
“Meanwhile, the borders of Mother Russia creep slowly outwards”
Has it got any military bases in Mexico or Canada yet?
“Israeli-style” ?
Isn’t that pointing at the other side doing bad things that are both off the page in scale of comparable magnitude, and also often as a direct provoked reaction ?
I hadn’t tagged you as a Putin fan, MJ. Reconsidered. There are rather a lot of you, aren’t there? Yes, the US has bases everywhere. With the knowledge and consent of the governments concerned. (I grant you, not necessarily the people) Even in Cuba. And they pay for them.
The argument ‘yes but the US’, or for that matter yes but anyone else, does not dispose of the argument that if Russia (or anyone else) wants to change its borders, military occupation and population transfer are not the accepted way of doing it and that they do not enhance local or global stability.
Blair was elected, too. Thank you for confirming that not everyone who gets elected is a wonderful, though I think we knew that already. And he didn’t change the term limits or do a quick interregnum for the Queen to ensure he held power from 1999 to the present day – and no doubt well beyond it – either.
“Israeli-style” ?
Isn’t that pointing at the other side doing bad things that are both off the page in scale of comparable magnitude, and also often as a direct provoked reaction ?
If I hadn’t just been told about what the Americans did, I’d maybe agree with you there, Macky. As it is, I’m playing by local rules.
“I’m playing by local rules.”
Like the good soldier you were, perhaps more like Cold War Indoctrination Rules; and oh yes, don’t forget the other blind bit of patriotic faith, about what an overall good thing the Empire was ! 😉
This “creeping annexation” as you term it.
Is that the specific complaint of the Georgian minister or is it a phrase invented by western journalists.
“Creeping” suggests an ongoing activity. Is that an accurate representation.
So far as I can see they’ve laid down a border between South Ossetia and Georgia in consultation with the South Ossetians.
The complaint really then is that the South Ossetian border is 300m further into Georgia than it should be.
Given that Georgia was the agressor in invading South Ossetia, I’d say they got off lightly.
This is no more than the neighbour’s hedge dispute that goes on between homes up and down the country and between many many countries too.
It doesn’t address the horror that is really and actually ongoing in the Ukraine, nor is it comparable to boundary shifts in an ongoing conflict.
@ Macky:
All I know is that if someone else’s interests visibly conflict with mine, even if I don’t like our own values much, I know which side of the argument I’m on. And I don’t want my oligarchs even closer to the state than they are at the moment.
Digression: to point out that the left was a natural target for Soviet subversion in the good-ol’days – when Russia had grabbed half of Europe, and the alternative to a cold war was a hot one – and nothing’s changed except that modern Russia is an oligarchy / autocracy, and has even less in common with any vision of egalitarian social democracy than it did then. The messages were the same then, albeit less sophisticated and not tailored to modern media developments. I used often to listen to Radio Moscow and even what I could understand of the GDR’s output. So similar to Novorossiya Today. Down to the automatic adjective for anyone Moscow didn’t like (all Ukrainian armed forces are Neonazis in NT’s view, eg).
Bottom line, if I am to question everything the Western media tell me, I am at least as bound to question everything Moscow or its stooges tell me. I do. And I find it sadly wanting.
Russian input on this blog must be quite flattering for Craig: it shows he’s getting read. Don’t stop.
Herbie, you’re missing the point. Oil.
“when Russia had grabbed half of Europe”
Is that what happened?
“Winston Churchill (not Stalin) proposed the agreement, under which the UK and USSR agreed to divide Europe into spheres of influence, with one country having “predominance” in one sphere, and the other country would have “predominance” in another sphere.[3] According to Churchill’s account of the incident, Churchill suggested that the Soviet Union should have 90 percent influence in Romania and 75 percent in Bulgaria; the United Kingdom should have 90 percent in Greece; and they should have 50 percent each in Hungary and Yugoslavia. Churchill wrote it on a piece of paper which he pushed across to Stalin, who ticked it off and passed it back.[2][4][5][6][7] The result of these discussions was that the percentages of Soviet influence in Bulgaria and, more significantly, Hungary were amended to 80 percent.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentages_agreement
Annexation. And integration. It’s not about independence.
http://www.fpri.org/articles/2015/02/russias-quiet-annexation-south-ossetia
Yes, Herbie. The alternative, recognised at the time and certainly considered briefly by Churchill, was to have a shooting war with the USSR. The USSR’s influence in Hungary and Bulgaria was subsequently total. The Soviet system was imposed, often by force, on Eastern Europe, and if you are saying this was a good thing, I differ.
Anyway, as far as I am concerned, that’s enough free publicity for a lousy regime.
The Resident Invigilator keeps egging me on to go beyond hints. Since I am in the U.S., and the standards for actionable libel are so hard to meet here, there’s no chance of my being liable for any comments I make, certainly about public figures. But I might get this site in trouble, if I don’t take care, as it is subject to UK libel law.
Is that why he keeps egging me on?
“Yes, the US has bases everywhere. With the knowledge and consent of the governments concerned.”
Menwith Hill has never had parliamentary consent for its existence. As a military man I thought you would have known that. Bob Cryer, the MP who died in a ‘road crash’ was forever raising that very issue.
Clearly some people think that there are daily civilian casualties on both sides in the Ukraine civil-war started by Poroshenko w ho said he would bring peace to the region. This is from a Facebook friend of mine.
“I’ve been told that my home should be where my children are growing up… I don’t think so…UK/ Ireland/ the West will never become my home, even after I’ve lived here for nearly half of my life. My home is not Moscow too, with it’s capital’s attitude and it’s “busy” people. I used to live there for 10+ years… My home is where I was born and where I grew up. My identity is Donbas with it’s dusty coal miners’ towns – Donetsk, Yenakiyevo, Uglegorsk. Funny names, Hey, but not for me…My homeland is full of people who speak neither pure Russian nor Ukrainian and used to live very happily without any English too for many years….My home is where the war is happening right now and where children and old people get killed nearly every day… I’ll never turn away from Donbas, wherever I am or whether Donbas is part of Russia, Ukraine or some other country.
I have no regrets… I’m very grateful for all the experiences and challenges I’ve faced in life as without them I would never be able to reflect…They say living away from home, in a foreign environment makes you wiser, but let me tell you something- feeling pain, experiencing loss and torturing of your hometown makes you so clear-sighted and definitely more appreciative of every little thing you are very lucky to possess.”
She shows a photograph of a residential building, how beautiful it used to look before Poroshenko’s soldiers tore it apart. The building was featured in a Financial Times article. She bought a copy because it contained a photograph of the home after bombing in her native Uglegorsk.
“I don’t read English newspapers full of bullshit and lies, but got this paper for memory of my hometown, photo of Uglegorsk (not Donetsk) which was destroyed by Ukrainians and Americans (not Russians)!!!”
Her mum escaped before the worst of the bombing started.
“My mums friend was running away, there were dead bodies everywhere, some of them started to decompose, some were eaten by hungry dogs…People were in their freezing cold basements for 6 days while the shelling was happening… But here in the UK, these DELUSIONAL people ask me WHY I AM SO POLITICAL on FB???? Really???”
These are real people, with real children killed in a genocide which has taken more than twice the lives of Ukrainians than Palestinians who died in 2014. It is a genocide that Poroshenko says could end by Christmas. He is due to meet with Merkel and Hollande in Germany. Putin will not be there.
http://tass.ru/en/world/815139
They are heartily sick of sanctions which are hurting France and Germany. In fact petitions are being raised on the streets of Germany.
http://stop-imperialism.com/2015/08/17/8415/
My guess is that ‘Porky’ will not have an easy time. And he will not be able blame Putin. I think they will be looking for his war to end long before Christmas.
Are the South Ossetians unhappy with the arangements?
Are you arguing that they really wanted to stay with Georgia?
I think you’ll find that the US system was imposed upon Western Europe after WWII.
Seemed fine whilst DeGaulle and others offered some resistance.
Doesn’t look so good now, when Western European interests are suffering due to their master’s demands.
You often claim that your country’s interests are best served by following the US approach.
It’s quite difficult to see how you arrive at that conclusion.
The U.S. had to limit its demands as long as it still had to compete with the Soviet Union. Now that the competition is gone, U.S. capitalism has been able to drop the mask and reveal its true nature.
Cubans have never cashed cheques issued by the US gubimnet for occupation of Guantanamo Bay base to date! Don’t whitewash the imperialist US marauders relentless annexation of the planet by pretending; “consent of the governments concerned“. More to the point USG have ordered their vassal charge hand in charge of the beleaguered nation targeted to rubber stamp their stealth invasion.
==========
Saadi don’t think your weasel words have gone unnoticed! You damn fine well know who the supremacists vermin are, but for the sake of clarity none other than the zionists that you seem so much to care about and wish to protect in your weasel ways.
Agreement on venality wreaked by a bunch of parasitic supremacists is the only agreement that any decent human being can reach!
The vultures start disecting the carcass as Greece lets German company take over 14 airports, as part of the privatisation process, over the Greek bailouts.
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/08/18/greece-to-sell-14-regional-airports-to-german-fraport/
“I hadn’t tagged you as a Putin fan”
I’m not particularly but facts are facts. He’s an elected president not a Tsar anointed by God. Pointing this out does not make me a fan.
“Blair was elected, too”
I thought you might have been refering to him in his role as “Middle East Peace Envoy”.
Putin has been elected several times in a slew of kangaroo elections. After serving as Prime Minister from 1999-2000, Putin was elected President. To appease widespread disapproval of his leadership.
Putin allowed his colleague Dmitri Medvedev to run for president in 2008 while he returned to the Prime Minister position. In 2012, Medvedev allowed Putin to return the presidency. Regardless of which office he was holding, Putin has remained in control of Russia.
In 2012 Putin returned to the presidency amid allegations of widespread election fraud and massive protests. Anti-Putin protesters were forcibly detained. Tough crackdowns against political protesters have become a hallmark of the Putin regime.
In 2009 attorney Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova were gunned down in broad daylight only a half mile from the Kremlin. Markelov was defending Chechens who had been brutalized by Russian troops and disparaged by the Russian media.
Baburova was a journalist critical of Putin and Russian policies towards the Chechens. Baburova became the 15th journalist to be murdered since Putin’s reign began. The murders of Putin’s political opposition are never truly investigated.
Putin might not appear to act like a tyrant in public, but he certainly has a iron grip on Russia, that you challenge at your own peril.
http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/putin-tyrant-democratic-leader/