UPDATE
36,000 people voted for swizzler Tessa Jowell to be Labour candidate for London’s mayor. If you consider the facts below, that says something very scarey about a substantial portion of Labour Party membership, even if she didn’t win.
The fact that it is still a serious possibility that a substantial number of Labour members will vote for Tessa Jowell to be the party’s candidate for London Mayor – which Labour electorate includes the new membership – should be a serious jolt to anybody who believes the Labour Party is transformed. The Labour Party is still full of crooks, and Tessa Jowell is one of the biggest crooks.
As I wrote in 2009:
Tessa Jowell actively participated in the laundering of the corrupt payments from Silvio Berlusconi, given to her husband David Mills in return for false testimony in court to cover up some of Berlusconi’s endless crooked dealings. Tessa Jowell participated as a full partner in the three time remortgaging of her home, paying off the mortgage with cash and then remortgaging. She has stated that there was “Nothing unusual” in this.
Most people would think it was very unusual to be able to pay off a large mortgage with cash at all. To do it twice and remortgage again each time would strike most of us as very weird indeed.
Tessa Jowell claimed she did not read the mortgage documents before signing them or know where the money was coming from. David Mills was eventually acquitted on a technicality by the Italian legal system, but it is not in dispute that the money came from Berlusconi or that he lied in court. Jowell claimed she did not read the documents and had no idea where the money came from or what her husband was doing. She then “left” him and went through a sham “separation” which the whole London establishment knew was a fake, (but the media obligingly did not publish), until the heat died down and the couple could get together again.
Revelations about Labour crookedness constantly make you gasp, such as the meetings Cherie Blair set up with Hillary Clinton on behalf of the Qatari royal family. Blair’s free holidays on Berlusconi are well remembered. Labour can claim that the Corbyn election is a defeat for Blairism and a new leaf. But if today Jowell gets more than a derisory vote, we will all know Labour are still a bunch of crooks at heart.
“I note that the British government hasn’t pursued your line of argument.”
Yes they have.
“In his letter Mr Rycroft reiterated Mr Cameron’s assertion that there was a direct threat to the UK, but also added: “ISIL is engaged in an ongoing armed attack against Iraq, and therefore action against ISIL in Syria is lawful in the collective self-defence of Iraq”.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34215799
Iraq has been attacked and is still being attacked by ISIS, they have a right under international law to defend themselves and to request Britain helps them to defend themselves which means air strikes on ISIS are legal as which side of the border they are on.
That is not spliting hairs that is stating facts.
There have been some hilarious comments on this thread so far, but the one from “Harry Law” wins today’s Habbabkuk award:
“The Russians want the Syrian people to decide their own future and are backing them, as are the Iranians”.
“Harry Law’s” comment would be more correct, if less hilarious, if it were to read as follows:
“The Russians want the Syrian people to decide their own future and are backing them, as are the Iranians, provided the future is called Assad”.
President Assad Junior won the last Presidential “election2 with – I believe – over 95% of the “vote”.
“they have a right under international law to defend themselves and to request Britain helps them to defend themselves”
Isn’t this the same nonsense the US uses, yea i’m sure the Iraq government, or any in the region will say they need “help” from the US/UK. Looks what happens if they defy this agenda.
But what have these deals got to do with the people in those counties. This is a total perversion of law. Just as it’s a total perversion to push for a mandate when there is none.
Why not have a referendum your so fond of fred, see what the Iraq people think about our involvement.
But again this is all buying into the lies that this is about helping, or does help, anyone but those who wish to profit from war, chaos, oil. Hegemony. The cause of most of the problems and killing…
Really, I don’t know how you bring yourself to support such OBVIOUS agendas fred, it’s disgusting.
Thanks for the entertaining comment Laguerre, the “hair-plitting” argument made me smile. As for:
“Not that I think that the powers are bothered with such trivia as law. I remember well my father, an expert in such matters, telling me that he doubted that Britain had the right to do what it did in the Falklands.”
Your father was probably right though there are arguments on both sides. I was studying International Law at the time of the Falklands War and the UK had done next to nothing for the islanders, hardly any infrastructure improvements and just a runway suitable for island to mainland flights and vice versa, practically nothing since the Second World War. In fact they were trying to push the islanders towards Argentina. There was such a small army-base there that it was possible for the Argentinians to just go there and take over with no bloodshed. The bloodshed would come later, when a floundering Thatcher saw her ill-fortunes reversed by the war.
Today the UK would have a much stronger case since it has cost the UK taxpayer an arm and a leg to build runways and other facilities. Also the referendum showing that the islanders overwhelmingly choose to be British – good for them and bad for our pocket. I wrote this article before the referendum in 2013 and the strength of feeling of the islanders can be judged from the comments where probably everyone there with a computer was instructed to like the islanders comments and dislike any alternative comments.
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2013/01/05/las-malvinas-or-the-falkland-islands-the-ugly-face-of-british-imperialism-and-its-startling-cost/
Today I accept, as with the good people of Donbas, that their referenda are valid and they wish to be what they wish to be. The difference of course is that the people of Donbas are not getting wodges of UK scrip and infrastrutural improvements are not taking place on any significant scale. Instead their infrastructure has been, is being, bombed into oblivion. Poroshenko, who recently got his cage rattled by Hollande and Merkel, came back from Germany and his forces, the ones he has any control over, have stopped breaking the Minsk 2 Agreement he co-signed for the first time since it was implemented back in February.
Fatuous. No direct imminent threat to the UK has been demonstrated. You have to believe the fake legal argument that anything will do, as I suppose you do.
Republicofscotland
“Macky.
That was a helluva slapdown you gave Fred.”
______________
Ar you referring to the following? :
“LOL !! A typical weasel non-answer, and from “I only posts facts” & “I don’t make the issues personal” Fred !! 😀
Whetever you are a deliberate pro-Establishment troll, or just a narcissistic odd-ball who likes to be contrarian in order to appear clever, with this response you have proved yourself beyond any doubt to be a unable to debate in good faith, and also revealed yourself as a shameless hypocrite.”
If you are, then you are easily impressed.
Mary
“Catalans stage huge pro-independence rally.
etc, etc, etc
Venceremos”
____________________
I am glad you are supporting an independent Catalonia.
Just as a matter of interest, do you believe an independent Catalonia should comprise only that part of historical Catalonia which is in today’s Spain or should it also include that part of historical Catalonia which is in today’s France?
Mary
“Catalans stage huge pro-independence rally.
etc, etc, etc
Venceremos”
________________
Just as a matter of interest, are you for independence for the Kurdish people?
++++++++++++++++++
I realise that this question, and the previous one, will require a little bit of thinking on your part and probably can’t be answwered by simple cutting-and-pasting but we would appreciate it if you were to make the effort. Thanks in advance.
Cameron was booed as he left Headingley. That will teach him not to make snide remarks about people in Yorkshire in their hearing. He is not that bright as he cannot tell when he is near a live mic. A very shallow spiv.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jamieross/david-cameron-was-just-caught-slagging-off-people-from-yorks#.gqP7zzYqg
“There have been some hilarious comments on this thread so far, but the one from “Harry Law” wins today’s Habbabkuk award.”
Noddy, Noddy, for God’s sake don’t ever give me one of your awards – for comedy or tragedy. 🙂 🙁
You come back from your demonstrations in support of mass-murderer Nyetanyahu no, no, no, and think you can take over the blog. You’re there Noddy, on the footage, recognisable by the blue hat with the little bell that goes jing-a-ling-a-ling as you snub your snobbish nose up at the good people who want to free Palestine from the clutches of an illegal apartheid regime the camera gets a good full frontal presentation like a candle lit pour voir ton visage. Go to your French teacher and ask what is wrong with that Jacques Prevert quote.
It is so obvious where you and the other Toytown idiots haev been. 🙂
Kempe (to Macky)
“Or are puerile insults the best you can do?”
_________________
I’m afraid that the answer to that is yes.
Plus, of course, his trademark exclamation marks, smileys and Bernard Levin-length paragraphs (but without the elegance).
SOS Has anyone got a bottle of Kaolin & Morphine? Severe case of (verbal) diarrhoea on the blog.
My old father, long since deceased, was a prof in these subjects, and thought that the British right to the Falklands was doubtful in law. Evidently, the military reconquest pretty much decided the thing, other than in Argentina.
To join the fun I should point out the the second person plural form in Catalan does not end in “os”. So “venceremos” means the Spanish speakers win – for the Catalans to win it is “vencerem”
“Fatuous. No direct imminent threat to the UK has been demonstrated. You have to believe the fake legal argument that anything will do, as I suppose you do.”
No direct imminent threat to the UK needs to be demonstrated. The direct imminent threat to Iraq has been demonstrated which is enough for a collective defence to be legal under international law.
Are you saying that Iraq has no right to defend themselves from armed invasion or that they have no right to ask other countries to help them?
“ISIL is engaged in an ongoing armed attack against Iraq, and therefore action against ISIL in Syria is lawful in the collective self-defence of Iraq”.”
The UK Government has no shame, and tries to make it up as it goes along; there is no legitimate basis in International Law for attacks on Syrian territory without authorisation from Damascus.
Nice of Habby-Clown to come along to keep Kempe company ! 😀
Is Wikipedia wrong then?
Venceremos is a Spanish and Portuguese word meaning “we will overcome”, or “we will win”.
That is what the Catalans are saying.
I saw this sick making advertorial on ITV’s 10 pm news.
11 September 2015 at 10:47pm
‘Britain will soon be ordering more drones, says manufacturer
The deaths of two British terror suspects in Syria has brought to the fore the controversial use of unmanned drones this week.
They are a key tool in the fight against the so-called Islamic State and now the world’s leading manufacturer Israel Aerospace Industries has told ITV News it expects Britain will soon be ordering more.
Baruch Shelef, from the manufacturer, said: “We are doing business in Europe, in Israel, in South America.
“We are looking for much better and much bigger business in the UK than what we have today.
“We believe we have what the UK may need and we are trying to promote and to propose this to the UK authorities.”
Geraint Vincent, ITV News Middle East Correspondent, reports:
Video
http://www.itv.com/news/2015-09-11/britain-will-soon-be-ordering-more-drones-says-manufacturer/
Messrs Arie Egozi and Baruch Shelef – such wonderful humanitarians.
This is getting tiring. A supposed threat in Iraq doesn’t allow you to bomb another country, where the threat is not proven.
“Why not have a referendum your so fond of fred, see what the Iraq people think about our involvement.”
The vast majority of Iraqis are Shia Ishmael, ISIS are Sunni, they would vote overwhelmingly in favour of our involvement.
The unemployed and the sick will be sanctioned more regularly,to boost the profits of the merchants of death. The super rich cannot be taxed somebody has to pay for the obscene toys, don’t they?
No Hospitals, no GPs, more drones, and more nukes, and more guns, we need even more nukes the gigaton bombs are for men, megaton bombs are for wimps!
You are harking back to 2005-2007, when indeed many Iraqis preferred the US keeping the peace. I wouldn’t see such a view today. Iraq doesn’t want serious US involvent.
“Venceremos” is indeed (Castilian) Spanish, as opposed to Catalan. However, it has been used in the Spanish-speaking world for left-wing causes: the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution, and Allende and his allies in Chile.
Catalonia was of course one of the parts of Spain that supported the Republican side most firmly in the Spanish Civil War, and one of the last to fall to Franco’s fascists.
One might oppose to the idea of local autonomy of the Spanish Republicans the Franquista slogan: “¡Una, Grande y Libre!” (understand “España”). Spain undivided, great, and free! Lemas del franquismo.
Fred; “The vast majority of Iraqis are Shia Ishmael, ISIS are Sunni, they would vote overwhelmingly in favour of our involvement.”
More Fred b/s; from Wiki, “Most sources estimate that around 65% of Muslims in Iraq are Shia, and around 35% are Sunni”
ISIS is a Western created problem in the Divide & Rule tradition, to give the West a pretext to intervene in the ME, and I’m sure that the vast majority of Iraqis realise this even if Fred doesn’t.
“This is getting tiring. A supposed threat in Iraq doesn’t allow you to bomb another country, where the threat is not proven.”
It isn’t a supposed threat, it is an armed invasion, thousands of Iraqi troops and civilians are being killed every month. The threat to Iraq is well and truly proven, they have asked Britain to help them, the United Nations Security Council have asked the international community to help them.
http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_prst_2014_20.pdf
Missed picking up on the second sentence there fred.
“they would vote overwhelmingly in favor of our involvement.”
Whatever you say, sure your know best…. I find this line of discussion (given what this is really about) something I don’t want to get into. Given western history the only thing our involvement would do it strengthen and justify ISIS more in the region. Again because (and I think is even more clear to people in the region) this is not about ‘destroying ISIS’ the current recruiting center of anti western sentiment.
I tire of this nonsense.
‘More Fred b/s; from Wiki, “Most sources estimate that around 65% of Muslims in Iraq are Shia, and around 35% are Sunni”’
Which makes the vast majority Shia as I said.
In the cosmopolitan city of Barcelona, 98% of the population speaks Castilian Spanish, whereas only 50-60% speaks Catalan. Barcelona: Castilian vs. Catalan. I would hazard the guess that to speak Spanish in Barcelona is no more to oppose Catalan nationalism than to speak English in Dublin is to oppose Irish nationalism.
Habbakuk [Down with Cant]@ 10:05 Assad has substantial support from the Syrian electorate over 70% are Sunni Muslims. As are over 70% of the armed forces, without that support he could never survive. The Doha debates, a Qatari foundation [No friend of Assad] published an opinion poll a couple of years ago of which 55% wanted Assad to stay in power http://www.shiachat.com/forum/topic/234997250-doha-poll-55-of-syrians-want-assad-to-stay/ The election in 2014 won by Assad with 77% of the vote [not over 95% as you claim] admittedly under difficult conditions was considered free, fair and transparent by 30 observer countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_presidential_election,_2014 Not what the usual regime change suspects wanted of course, people like yourself want Assad gone, so that you can steal more land and expel more of the indigenous Syrian population