This was my speech to the World Beyond War conference at American University, Washington DC on 24 September.
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Illuminating speech Craig- given the dodginess seemingly inherent to the extraction of blood diamonds, rutile, and titanium in SL that you outline, and the utterly corrupt relationships between the thuggish local rulers and their (at least on the face of it) more civilised western interlocotors that result (ie the likes of Baroness Amos and assorted city wide boys) you moderated your evident anger at this situation with timely injections of humour, which was just what the speech called for.
Good also to hear that the scales have fallen from your eyes re Jesse Jackson- the man has shamelessly exploited to the hilt the happenstance that he was at MLK’s side when he was assassinated; one could say he’s built his political career around this fact, and the fact that he has the gift of the gab typical of the huckstering preacher types who so dominate the ranks of ‘community leadsership’ in the African Americam community. I always suspected he was a nasty piece of work- so it was good to get that gut feeling confirmed in direct testimony from your good self.
I expect such practices are already settling in in Ukraine.
There have been accusations that Jesse Jackson, as an operative of the U.S. government, assisted a government conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King. I remember suspecting as much after I had read a book about King’s assassination, but I don’t remember enough details to have a firm conviction today. But I do know that a U.S. jury unanimously found in a civil case brought by the King family that King was killed by a conspiracy.involving local, state, and federal government agencies. http://www.thekingcenter.org/assassination-conspiracy-trial
Oh Jeez, here we go again 🙂
One of these days we shall probably read that our Transatlantic Friend read somewhere (without however being able to recall the details) that Martin Luther King was himself an operative of the US government and involved in a conspiracy against yet someone else (name to be revealed).
You can try to revive your complaints about my and others’ ideas about the King assassination which was deleted with more nonsense about the great man, and I can only hope that it too will be removed.
You seem a little sketchy on the finer details of this alleged conspiracy Habba, would you care to provide a little more information?
Leave the poor guy alone! He’s revelling in his new Avatar! How can he be expected to ‘remember’ (invent) more info?
Alan
Ask our Transatlantic Friend when he eventually comes up with it 🙂
He was shot by a crack Special Army group.
Jim Morrison and Elvis Presley have been spotted in Paraguay.
Jim Morrison’s father was the US Admiral who organised the Gulf of Tonkin false flag event.
Small world, eh.
“James Douglas Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, the son of Clara Virginia (née Clarke) and Rear Admiral George Stephen Morrison, USN,[9] who commanded US naval forces during the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which provided the pretext for the US invasion of South Vietnam in 1965.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Morrison
@ Old Mark September 27, 2016 at 14:52
Whilst I agree on Jesse Jackson, I somehow missed where he came in to Craig’s post.
Please enlighten me.
Craig mentioned that JJ came to Togo to sign the Peace Agreement and whined the whole time that there weren’t any TV cameras to record his movements. The video is worth watching- I hate them generally, it takes much less time to read a transcript, but this one is good. Our mate Craig is doing good work.
Bev
If you listened carefully to the video you would have noticed that Craig reports Mr Jackson as complaining on the way from the airport to the meeting venue and not “the whole time”.
To say “the whole time” implies from his arrival to when he left Togo and is dishonest. But Leninists are dishonest, aren’t they.
“Leninists are dishonest, aren’t they.”
Sure are.
Never told us they were funded by your banking chums.
Herbie
That’s the line your old mate Mr Goss used to bang on about, isn’t it?
And the Austrian corporal, habby.
Your Banking chums funded his outfit as well.
All those horrific crimes yourself and ResDiss enjoy pointing up.
Funded by Bankers.
Bit like today, eh.
That tear in Jackson’s eye, as Obama was inaugurated, looked a bit scripted;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGtByr1MpGM
Anyway.
What shit they talked back then about the “new dawn” the hope and “yes, we can”.
From this distance even the most stupid of people ought to be seeing the whole thing for the complete fraud it truly is.
And let us not forget Blair’s propaganda about Kosovo. It was this war’s ‘success’ that led directly to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“In future wars and particularly in the case of Iraq, the myth of Kosovan ‘success’ was repeatedly and deliberately employed.”
“Our hosts were ardent opponents of the Milosevic regime. Clever, brave and articulate young doctors, they left us in no doubt that the Kosovo War had not only destroyed substantial parts of their own country and killed many civilians but had been responsible for gravely weakening the opposition to the dictator.”
Bob Marshall-Andrews “Off message: The complete antidote to political humbug”
(Pages 193/4).
Kosovo was the first NATO war fought without Security Council authorization and not in self-defense. It was therefore the first NATO violation of the UN Charter. I know this means it was contrary to U.S. law, since a treaty like the UN Charter that has been ratified by the Senate becomes part of U.S. law. I assume it was also contrary to the law of the UK and other members of NATO, but I don’t know that for a fact.
A humanitarian intervention perfectly within the spirit of the UN Charter.
NATO should of course have done the same in Syria before the democratic resistance to Tyrant Assad Jnr got hijacked and while the Russians were still on the back foot. Would have been militarily simple given the historical performance of the Syrian army against the Israeli one.
Funny that the ‘analysis’ that you give-democratic revolution hijacked (by whom, pray?) is the SWP party line too.
That, together with the fact that you favour “Democratic Centralism” in the Labour Party, gives rise to the suspicion that you are an old Trotskyist who got greedy.
You might bear in mind, while you are playing cowboys and indians with yourself, that Hezbollah are fighting alongside the SAA, and their track record against the Israelis is only one victory short of a hat trick.
re Hizbollah : “and their track record against the Israelis is only one victory short of a hat trick.”
_______________
You wouldn’t be able to say that if the Israeli military had really taken the gloves off.. 🙂
Bev
“.. you favour “Democratic Centralism” in the Labour Party,”
_____________________
Tell me what that is, Bev, and I ‘ll be able to tell you whether I favour it. I’m not very familiar with all those Leninist expressions.
Your “if they had taken the gloves off” (as if they knew what gloves were) is a re-tun of the old US military ‘we would have win in Vietnam if it hadn’t been for…” argument.
That is not the way that war works.
As to Democratic Centralism it is the system currently being practised by your Stalinist friends in the Labour Party.
Google it. Google Clausewitz too. The old Times tennis reporter Liddell Hart could help as well.
@ Habbabkuk September 27, 2016 at 19:34
‘re Hizbollah : “and their track record against the Israelis is only one victory short of a hat trick.”
_______________
You wouldn’t be able to say that if the Israeli military had really taken the gloves off.. ?’
What, Habbs, you mean like this: ‘Israel government ‘tortures’ children by keeping them in cages, human rights group says’: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-government-tortures-children-by-keeping-them-in-cages-human-rights-group-says-9032826.html
or this: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=lena+jarboni&espv=2&biw=1600&bih=770&tbm=isch&imgil=F2ToNpRV3Im2jM%253A%253BPHw61vH1VsuglM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.inminds.com%25252Farticle.php%25253Fid%2525253D10687&source=iu&pf=m&fir=F2ToNpRV3Im2jM%253A%252CPHw61vH1VsuglM%252C_&usg=__z_uN7STM9Qslk7_6AJIYd4OpNqM%3D&ved=0ahUKEwi65PHkqbHPAhUDIsAKHUknC1gQyjcIMA&ei=qVTrV_rrMoPEgAbJzqzABQ#imgrc=F2ToNpRV3Im2jM%3A
or this: ‘http://www.inminds.co.uk/article.php?id=10656
Barbara
Actually, no.
What I mean is this : it is a fact that the Israeli armed forces whupped the Syrian armed forces on several occasions (starting in 1948). Armies against armies, air forces against air forces.
If the Israeli army did not succeed entirely in whupping Hezbollah it is because the most moral army in the world (I think you would not disagree) was anxious to minimise civilian casualties given that Hizbollah (like Hamas) has the charming habit of embedding itself amoung civilian populations when it “fights”. Taking the gloves off would have seen Hizbollah eliminated but at a cost to civilians which Israel and its armed forces was unwilling to assume.
Hope that answers your “question”.
Habba
In its modern context “democratic centralism” entails a leadership group (which in the context of the Labour Party includes McDonnell, Lansman, Milne and Others and possibly Corbyn (although he might sensibly keep some distance)) which h sets the line and policies to be pursued by Momentum – the National Momentum Committee then trickle this down into the Momentum regional groups.where a senior cadre uses meetings and other means to set out a line for their “supporters” to follow at Labour Party meetings. Anyone with half a brain will notice the strong similarity on websites and Facebook pages as to what is being pushed by Momentum Groups – some have even resorted to using local labour party sites to host their propaganda directly. I have also seen Labour Party meetings where the Momentum supporters act as a pack and any alternative views/arguments are just pushed aside. If any local Momentum Group’s show any sign of independent support outside the line then I suspect the response will be to send a senior cadre(s) to sort out matters.
It can be seen that the system can work by leveraging a small number of politically committed hardliners. It is also clear that debating the issues within the Labour Party, rather than within Momentum, is something to be avoided at all costs, which in turn explains why the policies really are just a list of complaints and demands and lack the detailed substance required for anything to be implemented.
Two things have probably made this approach possible:
1) someone (possibly John McDonnell – who is at the heart of most things – remember he is the one who pushed the more cuddly Corbyn to run for Leader) realised the opportunity and worked/persuaded the hard left outside the Party to set the whole thing up
2) the sheer ineptness of Ed Miliband and others in failing to understand how the hard left works and then providing them with their golden opportunity – and perhaps more importantly failing to develop a proper social democratic analysis of why the crash happened (and that does involve recognising what we got wrong) and then developing proper social democratic solutions – a policy vacuum was left into which the hard left was only too willing to move.
Yes I would like to see the band put back together – but we do have the little issue of a band within the band to deal with if this is to happen. The political ancestors of Keynes, Orwell, Crosland, Bevan, Bevin et al may be resting but we have not disappeared.
Sounds like the way Blair ran the party.
No one seemed to care so much then, though there was criticism.
So long as he was supporting the bankers it was fine.
“NATO should of course have done the same in Syria before the democratic resistance to Tyrant Assad Jnr got hijacked and while the Russians were still on the back foot.”
___________
Habb.
Ha! Poppycock as usual.
In my opinion, Russia was already prepared for Nato’s invasion, ( but probably didn’t want to give its hand away) politely telling Assad not to agree to the pipeline coming from Qatar, to supply gas through Turkey to Europe, and in the process deeply undermine Russia’s economy.
In my opinion that’s the real reason, why Nato, is desperately trying to remove Assad from power. To in the long run, weaken the Russian economy to the point of collapse, then hope for civil unrest, the removal of Putin, and then, the rise of Western hegemony, and control.
Putin is no great lover of democracy, and Assad certainly has his flaws, but I doubt, Russia will abandon the Syrian cause, in my opinion, both nations are locked in a battle for survival, one, (Russia) economically, the other (Syria) for sovereignty.
Also, in my opinion, especially after reading Peter Hopkirk’s book the Great Game, in which he alludes to the Russian people being used to hardship, but possessing a particular resilience, which one could say manifested, during Hitler’s attack on Russia, or Napoleon”s ravaging of Moscow. That Nato, will find it very very difficult to overcome Russia.
RoS
well said
“Spirit” cannot overrule the clear text of UN Charter 2(7):
(If you look at Chapter VII, it requires the unanimous agreement of all the permanent members of the Security Council, which was not present in the case of the Kosovo War.)
Article 2 lists the “principles” of the United Nations.
UN Charter Article 51 makes a very limited exception to 2(7), which did not apply in the case of the Kosovo War:
Article 52 allows “regional arrangements” like NATO to take action within limits:
Let me try to reformat the end of that:
Article 52 allows “regional arrangements” like NATO to take action within limits:
However, Article 2(7) makes noninterference in the internal affairs of states one of those principles.
Habb.
On the contrary the “Evil Empire” as you put it is alive and well, no not Israel, though they are high up in the ranks, no I mean the USA, or to be more specific, consecutive US governments, and their tyrannical foreign policies.
Is it any wonder Uncle Joe, (Erdogan looks more like him with every passing day) didn’t trust, FDR and Churchill (who used chemical warfare ). Indeed, if I recollect correctly, Russia, was left to clear the rats out of Berlin, at great cost, whilst Churchill and FDR, sat back.
In my opinion, the British, especially the chinless wonders, who’ve held sway over Westminster for centuries, have a deep seated dislike of all things Russian, Churchill, and FDR, both loathed communism, which is fair enough.
However the incitement of the “Cold war” and “Iron Curtain” which deeply divded parts of Europe, for decades, was in my opinion, down to the West’s mistrust (wrongly in my opinion) of Stalin and the USA’s arms market needing a new outlet, hence the Cold war, which was and “still is” a very profitable one.
Michael 19.58pm comment.
Thank you Michael. ?
“You can’t understand the conflict without talking about natural gas
By Maj. Rob Taylor
Much of the media coverage suggests that the conflict in Syria is a civil war, in which the Alawite (Shia) Bashar al Assad regime is defending itself (and committing atrocities) against Sunni rebel factions (who are also committing atrocities). The real explanation is simpler: it is about money.
In 2009, Qatar proposed to run a natural gas pipeline through Syria and Turkey to Europe. Instead, Assad forged a pact with Iraq and Iran to run a pipeline eastward, allowing those Shia-dominated countries access to the European natural gas market while denying access to Sunni Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The latter states, it appears, are now attempting to remove Assad so they can control Syria and run their own pipeline through Turkey.”
http://armedforcesjournal.com/pipeline-politics-in-syria/
James Charles.
Thank you for that informative comment, and link. ?
I heard that an Israeli “Operations Room” in Syria got wiped out completely. That kind of blows the image of Israeli superiority right out of the water, doesn’t it?
The report I read was that there were British, French and US advisors there too. What the Americans were there for I’m not sure.
According to that report, there were also U.S. and UK officers in that operations room who were also killed.
But the Americans don’t do body counts, so surely it doesn’t matter how many Americans were involved?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8405894.stm
“We don’t do body counts.” These were the words of Gen Tommy Franks, the man in charge of the US-led invasion of Iraq.
After all, American “Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.”? Henry Kissinger said so.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/218473-military-men-are-just-dumb-stupid-animals-to-be-used
The Americans learned not to do body counts after doing so in the Vietnam War gave the world figures which were used against them; two million dead Vietnamese, sixty thousands dead US soldiers, three million bombs dropped etc.
It was Defense Secretary Robert McNamara who said, “Give me the numbers! I want numbers!” McNamara had joined JKF ‘s government straight from running the Ford Motor Company. Proving himself unqualified to lead any war he said that war could be won if it was run like a business. That’s why the US lost the war and why we know at what costs.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/09/22/unconfirmed-russian-med-ship-launch-missile-attack-to-kill-foreign-command-center-near-aleppo/
Note the report is unconfirmed, but the Coalition cannot admit to having trooops on the ground,linking them to the Der Ezzor atrocity.The cave location was traced from communications directing the Der Ezzor operation.
Russia can clain palusible deniability to prevent a superpower confrontation.
Maybe explains the US tantrums at the UN. They are used to controlling the dialogue.
And don’t forget Turkey’s helping Milosevic extend the NATO bombing which then was extended to Asia minor.
@Trowbridge, can you please explain this comment, thanks.
Was Kosova the first New Labour war,
sort of a warm up fopr what was to come?
It’s because Blair started his wars alongside Clinton several years before many of us had even heard of Baby Bush that I call Blair the biggest killer alive. His tally’s two million dead.
“And let us not forget Blair’s propaganda about Kosovo. It was this war’s ‘success’ that led directly to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
I just read this piece about Kosovo with no mention of Blair, I assume because it is US focussed. “America’s Deceptive Model for Aggression”
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/09/26/americas-deceptive-model-for-aggression/
I think we need to look more closely at these ‘interventions’ through the lens of Capital as the driver rather than the government or state. I am convinced government and state (and media of course) have been co opted by Capital as enforcers, enablers and protectors through a powerful nexus of greed, corruption, coercion and self serving enrichment and a sense of entitlement.
This comes through clearly to me again from Craig’s speech.
Everything about Bill Clinton’s body language when he announced the bombing of Yugoslavia in the Kosovo War suggested to me that it was all contrary to his wishes, that he was somehow being forced to do it.
I have the same impression about Obama and Syria.
And both times, the U.S. government claimed, implausibly, that bombings had been “accidental”, first of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and then of Syrian forces in Syria.
I edited my post a few times before posting and left some words out by accident. I do think many politicians become part of that nexus willingly.. Clinton Mr and Mrs and Blair I definitely put in that category. As well as co opted, infested or infiltrated by those willing to be part or already part of the Capital ruthless plundering and profiteering.
Then you don’t know enough about the former governor Clinton
http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/articles/l28comp.htm
I was most impressed by Blair’s performance after Chilcot. Some reports were portraying him as a broken man – hoarse voice, bowed shoulders, the works. Amazing how well he recovered for his little holiday with Italian rich people a week or two later. Clinton’s from the same stable. They should both be on the stage (where their earnings would be slightly closer to their actual value to humanity)
I recall that one of Blair’s schoolmasters said that acting was the lad’s greatest talent.
Course 101 in Body Language (college unknown)
The 9/11 ‘False Flag’ attacks were what led to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and ongoing…
Lou Reed had Jesse Jackson pegged.
https://youtu.be/66qe76gkCxo
Thanks for sharing this shocking tale which brings home why so many of the Blairites are so keen on bombing their way to lucrative business opportunities. No wonder you got out. The stench of corruption must have been difficult to live with.
Wouldn’t it be better to say that jesse just lured MLK to a common ground where the good Dr, could be easily assassinated, and then pointed in the wrong direction to help cover it up?
Yep, you’re on point there!
I’ve got that LP Phil- this track is basically a New York Jewish atavistic rant- nothing wrong with that in the hands of a true artist like Reed, and it does draw attention to the double standard that some black ‘community leaders’ enjoy when they spout off (as Jackson did) about, inter alia, ‘Hymietown’- aka Noo Yawk.
No white US politician would have been cut as much slack as Jackson received after he made that remark.
Mark, New York New York is a great album and well worth a relisten. Obviously some folks have a much darker opinion of Jesse Jackson than either Lou or Craig based on his comments in the video about “do not meet your heroes”.
Let me endorse the comments praising your speech and your humanity in the face of powerful people and entities like diamond mining and titanium mining companies. It was a pleasure to listen to it, and although I have come across much of the content in The Catholic Orangemen of Togo, it was a refresher on how people, including ambassadors, are manipulated in the bigger game.
On an aside I have a spare iron. 😀 Or is it one of these trendy shirts that we poor folk can’t afford?
Great article in “Veterans Today” gives a rare insight as to the world we live in,the world our kids/grandkids will inherent,not very promising.
Does help if you give a link…
I imagine that the American left has had its bellyfull of dapper brits with sharp suiting, expensive shirts and shoes, spouting self serving lies.
This criticism of Craig’s clothes is a re-run of Cameron’s silly critique of Jeremy Corbyn in the House of Commons. Next stop: sans cullottes.
Bit harsh over a bit of fun bevin. I went out in an unironed shirt this morning. So what. If we can’t have a bit of familiar banter it is a sad world.
No offence intended to you. Just as I am sure that you intended none to Craig. I’m shocked that you let the side down by going out in an unironed short however. For my own part…you wouldn’t want to know.
@ bevin
Best not to labour the point – if CM is back in Blighty, I suspect he’s in Intensive Care after Nadira got hold of him – that shirt was a MESS. I’m anything but a snappy dresser, but a wake-up call is in order.
Thanks for the reply re Jesse Jackson – I will rewatch the video. In the interim, as you aren’t overly enamoured with videos, you won’t particularly like this one (at nine hours long!), but it is excellent, and I thoroughly recommend it to folks that do like informative documentaries: ‘Evidence of Revision’ (The assassination of America): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHb5X3fFhPw
It covers a lot of stuff that doesn’t normally get to see the light of day.
Glad someone else has noticed!
@ Paul Barbara September 27, 2016 at 08:02
‘Great speech, as usual, Craig….but that shirt! Why on earth didn’t you buy a new one, if you couldn’t get it properly laundered in time?
By the way, do you know which side ‘Colonel Issac’ was sold by Liberia to fight for in Namibia?’
(Christ….)
Some of us also noticed that Craig’s valet had failed to provide sir with an immaculately pressed and crease free shirting, but persons of our social position know it would be de trop to mention the faux pas. However may we express the hope that the services of servant in question have been dispensed with and that he is even now applying to the British Embassy for passage home in the diplomatic bag.
That said, we must agree that what Craig wears is far more significant than anything he has to say, and would diffidently suggest a change of approach. This week we are *rocking* this at our conferences with world leaders:
http://www.harrods.com/product/columbian-heavy-metal-t-shirt/givenchy/000000000005324750?cat1=new-men&cat2=new-men-tshirts
…which in addition to requiring no ironing, being ahead of any possible trend (though appropriate in the light of the recently-concluded truce between FARC and the Colombian government) and proof against dribble, is very reasonably priced, we feel.
The biggest example of the sort of geo-political scamming to which Craig refers was the looting of the USSR.
John Helmer-http://johnhelmer.net/- describes the way in which the ‘re-election’ of Yeltsin in 1996 was managed.
It was that operation, founded on the “Constitution” imposed on Russia after the coup against the Duma, which had begun impeachment proceedings, which institutionalised the electoral irregularities, designed then to prevent the Communists from winning the vote.
That remains the rationale behind Putin’s United Russia party fiddling the recent elections. The ‘western backed’ liberals are unelectable- there is no need to stop them from losing- but the likelihood of a Communist victory in any free election remains very high.
Helmer’s reports the story of an OSCE whistleblower:
“How the West Helped invent Russia’s Election Fraud: OSCE Whistleblower Exposes 1996 Whitewash.”
The era of Blair overlapped the Clinton era. It was a time of high crime on the international scene.
THE Dutch prime minister Marky Mark
has come under fire for saying Turkish men who attacked journalists in Rotterdam should ‘f*** off’ out the country.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/714850/Turkish-thugs-told-go-back-to-Turkey-Dutch-PM-Mark-Rutte
“Pleur op I would say in Haags.”
What New Labour twaddle is this?
A mentoring scheme to help hundreds of women into leadership roles has been launched by the Labour Party in memory of MP Jo Cox.
It aims to help over 600 women to enter politics over the next five years.
Mrs Cox, the MP for Batley and Spen, died after she was shot and stabbed in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in June.
Labour’s general secretary Iain McNicol said it was a fitting memory to the mother-of-two who was a champion of international feminism.
So, only two women were allowed to go forward, no men?
To stand for the constituency of the late Jo Cox, one has been “chosen” an x-soap actress.
So are men now not wanted in New Labour?
The initiative comes after dozens of female Labour MPs wrote to party leader Jeremy Corbyn urging him to do more to tackle personal abuse during the leadership campaign.
Leadership rival Owen Smith also accused Mr Corbyn of not doing enough to clamp down on “intolerance and misogyny”.
So J.C. for the second time in a year, is massively voted into the position of Leader of Old Labour
but feminists don’t want Old Labour, they want WHITE HELMETS
I’ve always thought more women were wanted in politics because they’re easier to cajole and if necessary intimidate.
Nice one Craig.
I couldn’t help but laugh at your rather appropriate Niall Ferguson jibe.
No doubt Habb, has a copy of his, history of the British Empire, and swears by it. ?
Forget Blairite Propaganda.
These New Labour women should not be allowed to hijack Old Labour.
Surely you mean “Blair’s Babes”?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/apr/22/women.labour1
Excuse me while I laugh. ROFL
Niall Ferguson was said to be a guest at this year’s Bilderberg Meeting. I think he must be writing the desired version of history.
Mick- Ferguson has been a regular attender at this elitist jamboree for a few years now; not that that necessarily signifies anything.
My take on Ferguson is that he is at least better than Andrew Roberts- who is a ‘court historian’ with knobs on. Ferguson is basically a showman- hence his invention of eye catching neologisms such as ‘Chimerica’ and ‘killer apps’ , around which he has constructed some of his more recent books. Like his old teacher AJP Taylor he knows how to ‘deliver’ when it comes to lecturing- he was a guest lecturer at LSE a few years back and I saw him ‘perform’ there twice, and on both occasions you could say he ‘bought the house down’, striding back and forth across the dais at the Old Theatre like a great actor manager, and occasionally dropping in his Kissinger impersonation (which is very good) to elicit knowing titters from the audience.
One thing about his Bilderberg connection did set me off wondering a few months ago however; during the EU refererendum campaign his hitherto generally Eurosceptic line seemed to evaporate into thin air- and instead he wrote a couple of strongly anti Brexit articles for Murdoch in the Sunday Times. Perhaps he was told that his invitation to this years knees up would be rescinded unless he took a more globalist friendly line on this crucial issue ?
Now here’s something we can all surely agree on yes?
“Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for football’s world governing body, FIFA, to give Israeli settlement clubs the boot. The group calls for FIFA to stop violating its own rules and “fulfill its human rights responsibilities.”
“Six Israeli football clubs are based in settlements in the West Bank, which have been deemed illegal by the UN and human rights organizations.”
The below statement makes it quite clear, with no exceptions to the rule.
“FIFA rules state that a member association cannot hold games in another member association’s territory without permission.”
And to add insult to injury.
“As Palestinians don’t have permission to enter settlements, unless they are labourers with permits, they can’t participate in or attend matches played in them.”
https://www.rt.com/sport/360680-israel-settlement-fifa-hrw/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome
Football Against Apartheid:
https://footballagainstapartheid.wordpress.com/
I was leafleting at their Demo Saturday at Arsenal.
Paul, thanks for the link, very interesting, FIFA, should do the right thing, but alas with the likes of Blatter and Platini, who were once at the helm, FIFA, appears to have lost its way, Gianni Infantino, so far appears to be happy with the status quo.
Human Rights Watch?
Is that by any chance the outfit some of the Obsessives on here were criticising bitterly a while ago for having issued a report not the the liking of said Obsessives? Something about Russia or Syria or Venezuela possibly – you remind me! 🙂
Habb.
Good Afternoon, I didn’t think you’d be around today, I thought you might be mourning the death of Mr Peres? Mr Peres, sadly now gone, helped formulate the Oslo Accords, along with Rabin and Arafat.
I confess that I thought the same RoS but no, like a bad penny 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZoWWsHp-3I
After the debate last night between Clinton and Trump my brain feels a bit like WTC7. The American presidential election is a total charade, a total con. Most laughable of all, the curtain backdrop to last night’s debate displayed the words of the American Constitution, a Constitution that’s been totally torn to shreds over the last decade or so.
This ten minute video from Truthstream Media is a year old, yet it’s still highly relevant and what’s said about the relationship between Trump and the Clintons is factual…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYfkvfjvn4
In the letter, also signed by fellow Vote Leave campaigners Michael Gove and Gisela Stuart, the trio said if the Government did not pledge to veto Turkey’s attempts to join the bloc or its pending visa-free travel deal with the EU, the public will “draw the reasonable conclusion that the only way to avoid having common borders with Turkey” would be to vote for Brexit.
I find it rather hard to trust Boris Johnson, he seems to be all over the place.
Simple question:
does Boris Johnson want the United Kingdom to BREXIT?
Yes, but BJ has Turkish roots, so what the hell did you expect?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/27/boris-johnson-praises-his-beautiful-turkish-washing-machine-as-h/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Kemal
Turkey arrests some 32,000 in coup plot investigation since July – justice minister
Turkey has formally arrested 32,000 people in its investigation of a religious movement the government blames for staging a military coup attempt on July 15, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Wednesday. In a live interview with broadcaster NTV, Bozdag also said a total of about 70,000 people have faced legal proceedings on suspicion of links with US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the government says engineered the failed coup. Gulen, who lives in the US, denies any involvement. Turkey is building a new courthouse in the town of Sincan, near the capital Ankara, and needs more facilities in order to prosecute all of the Gulen followers implicated in the coup plot, Bozdag said. (Reuters)
Turkey should fit in perfectly
Trump or Clinton. Worst or Worstest.
Interesting talk on Sierra Leone Craig. Is it true that Tony Blair has interests in the mining companies there too?
No, he’s given it all up to do charity work – honest..
What, Boris is a Turkey?
Definitely! The definitive turkey.
I had a look. Nothing visible in mining, but I suspect a link with French investment and industrial holding giant Bollore, which has taken over port operations in SL, and this in turn may connect with Chinese interest in African resources: Tony’s had extensive dealings with the Chinese. As to the touted closure of his commercial opperations, Blair is on record as saying that two-thirds of his time was spent in charitable work before the announcement, and is promising only 20% of his time to making money now. It’s hardly a vow of poverty. Even if you politely forget that his Africa Governance Initiative, though a charity, is almost exclusively engaged in providing the services of Tony’s expensive cronies to clients in receipt of enough foreign aid to pay them.
Saint NIGEL FARAGE has questioned Boris Johnson after he today pledged to help ASIATIC ISLAMIC TURKEY join the EU.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/715016/Nigel-Farage-Boris-Johnson-Turkey-EU-membership-Brexit-EU-referendum-Vote-Leave
Michael, the Daily Express is widely acknowledged to be a bad source of news. Here’s a recent example…
http://wingsoverscotland.com/expressway-to-lietown/
Mind you, the Daily Mail are just as bad, yet they still publish columnists like Peter Hitchins…
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/09/the-worlds-fixated-on-trump-but-hillary-could-drag-us-all-into-a-catastrophic-war-writes-peter-hitch.html
… who still manage to give the DM some veneer of respectability.
The likes of Hitchens are just cracks in the curtain (as are Owen Jones and the Monbat over at the Guardian).
We now live in a total police state.
RobG: If Norton’s too stupid to already know that the Express is a disgusting rag full of lies, it’s too late to educate him on the matter.
Glenn, I now see that Republicofscotland has posted the Wings link to that Express article in reply to Michael in the previous post.
Michael comes across to me as a natural socialist Labour voter, but seems to have been skewed by all the propaganda bullshit. In the immediate aftermath of the 2008 economic crash all the blame for it was put on the poor and needy, the ‘welfare scroungers’, with numerous tv programmes promoting this point of view.
Now it’s shifted to the immigrants and ‘Muslim terrorism’ to get the public to buy into all the wars for control of resources.
I think the likes of Michael are able to see through all this total bullshit.
Perhaps he just needs to lay off the mind blowing cider and the Daily Express.
Certainly Rob… I wonder if the Express comes with a voucher for Frosty Jack’s finest? One would appreciate the more subtle points of “Dirty” Desmond’s wisdom after imbibing a “50% free” bottle in full:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/frosty-jacks/3077/
There are all too many natural Labour voters who have been chased away with denunciations such as “racist”, “isolationist” etc. just because they don’t want our country flooded with cheap labour. Thank the Blairite scum for that – they just loved themselves some cheap labour.
Encouraging the working poor to fight among themselves has to be the first instruction in the capitalist rulebook. Too bad that so many dupes fall for it – the first tripping point is when they pick up the “news”/entertainment gutter-press rags from these stinking capitalists, and are stupid enough to believe it.
That’s where the Nortons of the world go around, treading on rakes and getting slammed in the face, yet they do so with enthusiasm every day, advising others to do the same. They make themselves more stupid, even as they do the master’s bidding while enriching him in the process. How they must laugh!
“Certainly Rob… I wonder if the Express comes with a voucher for Frosty Jack’s finest?”
Some kind of price war has broken out between the Mail and the Express; it was on some advert in the middle of “I Frankenstein” which is a film about Habbakook on TV earlier tonight.
Glenn
Glad you’ve kissed and made up with RobG, boyo, and that it’s Norton’s turn to feel the lash of your tongue.
Just don’t get the hots for him, now!
@H: I’ve never had a personal problem with RobG. You are mistaken.
Rob
“Perhaps he just needs to lay off the mind blowing cider”
_______________________
A bit rich coming from you.
Rob G
Thanks for sharing Hitchens’ latest column with Craig’s readership- I read him at the weekend intending to post the same here but forgot to do so. The points he made on all 3 issues- Clinton v Trump, Syria, and the Hounding of Corbyn, were all valid.
The CIA has been coordinating weapon deliveries on the Turkey-Syria border, German journalist Jurgen Todenhofer, who recently spoke with a Jabhat al-Nusra commander, told RT. He added that the US knows that the weapons it delivers to rebels end up with terrorists.
“This is a game everybody knows. It’s very clear that the Americans know that their weapons will in the end be in the hands of terrorists,” Todenhofer said speaking to RT.
A rebel fighter of ‘Al-Sultan Murad’ brigade arranges weapons inside a warehouse in the northern Syrian rebel-controlled town of al-Rai, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria, September 26, 2016. © Khalil Ashawi Wealthy Gulf states may arm Syrian rebels to ‘get the Russians to back off’ – US officials
“The CIA was coordinating the weapons’ delivery from Turkey and they brought the weapons to the border… These weapons were taken by terrorist groups, Al-Qaeda, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). This is well-known.”
This is neither a mistake nor a case of negligence
From Russia Today
Perhaps it may be time for the BBC to re-think its bias?
Are you seriously suggesting that there are people at the BBC capable of thought?
Assange and Wikileaks keep threatening to post the ‘e-mails that will kill Hillary’, but still haven’t done so.
In the meantime, and backing-up my earlier post…
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/780585219648880640
Do you mean these?
https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/
John Pilger on Niall Ferguson
‘To understand the power of indoctrination in free societies is also to understand the subversive power of the truth it suppresses. During the Blair era in Britain, precocious revisionists of Empire have been embraced by the pro-war media. Inspired by America’s Messianic claims of “victory” in the cold war, their pseudo-histories have sought not only to hose down the blood slick of slavery, plunder, famine and genocide that was British imperialism (“the Empire was an exemplary force for good”: Andrew Roberts) but also to rehabilitate Gladstonian convictions of superiority and promote “the imposition of western values”, as Niall Ferguson puts it.
Ferguson relishes “values”, an unctuous concept that covers both the barbarism of the imperial past and today’s ruthless, rigged “free” market. The new code for race and class is “culture”. Thus, the enduring, piratical campaign by the rich and powerful against the poor and weak, especially those with natural resources, has become a “clash of civilisations”. Since Francis Fukuyama wrote his drivel about “the end of history” (since recanted), the task of the revisionists and mainstream journalism has been to popularise the “new” imperialism, as in Ferguson’s War of the World series for Channel 4 and his frequent soundbites on the BBC.’
http://johnpilger.com/articles/empire-and-israel
Syria’s army took control of a rebel-held district in central Aleppo on Tuesday, after days of heavy air strikes that have killed dozens and sparked allegations of war crimes.
In the first advance since announcing plans last week to retake all of the divided city, pro-government troops seized the Farafira district northwest of Aleppo’s historic citadel, a military source told AFP.
“After neutralising many terrorists… units are now demining the area,” the source said.
The push follows several days of Syrian and Russian air strikes on rebel-held Aleppo neighbourhoods — some of the fiercest bombardment of the five-year conflict so far — after a ceasefire deal brokered by Moscow and Washington collapsed last week.
The Aleppo maelstrom prompted Western powers to accuse Russia of committing possible war crimes, charges the Kremlin condemned as “unacceptable”.
In the latest broadside, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also condemned the air campaign.
“The appalling attacks on Aleppo have shaken all of us, and the violence and the attacks we have seen… is morally totally unacceptable and is a blatant violation of international law,” Stoltenberg told a news conference in Bratislava.
http://www.france24.com/en/20160927-syrian-army-takes-rebel-neighbourhood-aleppo-military-says
Vietnam
Kosovo
Iraq 1
Iraq 2
Great talk and a little more detail than in your book, thanks for that.
We are witnessing the death of diplomacy and the rise of the arms dealers rights conventions like rabbit in the headlights.
Glasgow East MP Natalie McGarry charged over alleged fraud
http://news.sky.com/story/glasgow-east-mp-natalie-mcgarry-charged-over-alleged-fraud-10595499
seems like there is corruption in every party, even the fabled SNP
Are there any honest members of Parliament?
In May this year, Police Scotland began investigating a SECOND complaint against Ms McGarry,
after the SNP’s Glasgow Regional Association reported around £4000 unaccounted for?
Ms McGarry, who had been the group’s convener from 2011 to 2015 and the main signatory on its bank account,
AGAIN denied wrongdoing.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14767181.Glasgow_East_MP_Natalie_McGarry_charged_by_police_in_connection_with_alleged_fraud/?ref=rss
Habbs re Hizbollah: Israel did take the gloves off or is it standard procedure to drop millions of cluster bombs on an area AFTER a ceasefire had been agreed? They succeeded in causing $ billions in damage to infrastructure but their main problem was that the IDF don’t have what it takes. The myth surrounding the Merkava was destroyed, just like a good number of the tanks and because they took a beating in the ground offence, they quickly agreed to a ceasefire. The IDF aren’t unlike the Saudi soldiers. All the latest equipment but not very good at using it. Just like the Houthis, Hizbollah gave their much better equipped enemy (courtesy of US) a lesson in how to fight at close quarters. They got found out as soon as they weren’t bullying unarmed Palestinians.
In the contrary, Oblivious, Hizbollah and Hamas – and, for that matter, various Arab armies – only shine when they are able to bully, terrorise and oppress civilian populations (usually their own). That is because they are armed and are carrying out the orders of unaccountable despots and autocrats.
Put them against Tsahal – and assuming in the case of Hizbollah and Hamas that they would for once forego using civilians as human shields – and they are toast.
(BTW, Hizbollah’s been rather invisible of late, has it not…?)
There you go Habba-Clown, happy viewing ! 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7w20p8r6bE
That’s a Hizbollah leader speaking – would you expect him to say anything different, you chump?
Forget Blairite Propaganda
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/09/forget-blairite-propaganda-sierra-leone-not-blairs-good-war/comment-page-2/#comment-626661
Labour backbenchers intend to seek control of the party’s aviation policy with their own vote on a third runway at Heathrow.
They plan to present a report on Heathrow to a meeting of Labour MPs and peers when Parliament returns.
The chair of Labour’s backbench transport committee Gavin Shuker said MPs were “deeply frustrated” about a lack of leadership on key policies.
He said the report’s conclusions could go to a vote the day after the meeting.
The committee’s conclusions are thought to fly in the teeth of the views of shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who as a west London MP has long fought Heathrow expansion.
These New Labour Toads are intent on having their own New Labour way.
So do these toads care about the issue
or is it yet another nonsense to try and foil J.C.
Personally, I believe there is too much air pollution in London and shutting Heathrow would be a better long-term goal.
The Joint Investigation Team are giving their report of the investigation into the downing of MH17.
Live feed. http://live.reuters.com/Event/Reuters_Live_Video/380873322?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social
Looks pretty conclusive. The BUK missile was brought from Russia and returned to Russia after shooting down MH17. It was fired from rebel held territory.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37495067
It would, when you look down the nations, that head the JIT investigation.
God knows, Nato and the West, need a showcase, after being caught redhanded, bombing in a ceasefire, or the dubious destruction of the UN convoy, not doubt another hand picked JIT committee will absolve them.
Frederick
why would they do that?
It would hardly help the cause of the Russian Ukrainians wanting to secede from The Ukraine
but I can see how it would help the West to denounce Russia.
For a moment, let’s play along with the Dutch.
Let us say that the Russian Ukrainans , using a Russian Missile, brought down a Malaysia airliner over The Ukraine.
What could possibly be their motive?
It would hardly be to bring down the aircraft that was flying Mr.Putin home.
So, if that is what happened, which aircraft, were they hoping to bring down?
For a moment lets look at the evidence presented from multiple sources, forensic, photographic and eye witness.
That’s what happened.
What evidence?
Bellingcat. Social media. Ukrainian spooks.
The reality here is that NATO refused an independent inquiry.
Why’d they do that, eh.
MH17 Investigation is a propaganda operation to demonise Russia and always was;
Where are the results from the US spy satellites.
Where are the tapes from the Kiev control tower,
where are the eye witness accounts of people on the ground who saw 2 military aircraft tailing MH17.
Where are the blackbox results given to BrItish authorities.
Why was MH17 diverted over the Donbass warzone by the Kiev control.
Why was their no large vapour trail and noise from the launch of a BUK. and no satelllite evidence.
The Donbass rebels do not have an airforce, their ManPad anti-aircraft only go to 10,000 ft. ,MH17 was at 30,000
Why has Ukraine got a veto on the investigation results.
CUI BONO,who gains by downing a civilian aircraft,intended to fall on Russian territory, certainly not Russia or the rebels.
The only logical conclusion is that this has the putrid smell of a ‘false flag’ to demonise Russia by the usual suspects.
Salford Lad.
Fine comment, you appear to be on the ball, ask yourself who really benefits, from the shooting down of MH17.
The collective finger pointing at Russia, by JIT, is a foregone conclusion, for they could hardly blame Poroshenko’s fighters. The idea is to sour Ukranian’s relationship with Russia, and not the West.
So there could only be one outcome of the JIT investigation.
The relationship between Russia and the illegal neo-Nazi Kiev regime,installed by a US sponsored coup is irreparable.
The aim of ‘false flags’ is always to demonise the opposition in the eyes of the world,
We have recently seen another in the ‘false flag’ destruction of the UN food convoy in Aleppo.
We have the cooking pot bombs in major Us Cities the day after the Der Ezzor war-plane atrocity. This obviously removed Der Ezzor from the US front pages and smells ‘false flag’.
Control of the dialogue is the first rule of propaganda.
Ukrainian army BUK missile systems:
http://www.segodnia.ru/sites/default/files/pdf/Buk%203_2%20mystery%20of%20the%20lost%20digit.pdf
Up to a point Lord Copper aka fred
Today’s report from the JIT (which includes a Ukrainian government representative, ho ho!) really only dots the i’s and crosses the t’s on its earlier interim reports, which already came close to pointing the blame at the rebels and, by extension, the Russian armed forces who have assisted them.
What is interesting is the TIMING of the release of these findings; for that I think Mr Whitney here may have a good explanation-
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/27/putin-ups-the-ante-ceasefire-sabotage-triggers-major-offensive-in-aleppo/
Thank you Old Mark for that link, it make for very interesting reading.
That particular account throws up some very good points, as to why the US, couldn’t work jointly with Russia to eliminate ISIS. How could the US attack ISIS, when ISIS is, funded and supportered by the US, in search of a common goal, namely the removal of Assad.
It reminds me of how the British, worked hand in glove with the Muslims Brotherhood, in the early to middle part of 20th century, to destablise Middle Eastern nations, predominantly.
Your link also alludes to, the West plan B, if Assad cannot be removed and Syria balkanised, then at the very least a caliphate must be carved out to allow the gas pipeline to run from Qatar to Turkey ,and onto the European market.
Assad, with the help of Russia, and other less prominent allies, must defeat ISIS and the likes of Al-Nursa, if Syria, is to remain a sovereign nation, and not end up like Libya.
The thing that I did differently from other diplomats was that I cared.
Diplomats rather pride themselves on not caring.
Craig Murray: The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts I Have Known:November 2008
“I have come to realise that caring in politics isn’t really about caring”
Tony Blair: Labour conference Sept 2006
The Dutch Report on the shooting down of MH17 is a hatchet job of the worst order.
While it did confirm the obvious, a BUK missile launcher made in Russiar did it, it made out that Putin’s Russia conspired to do it without any conclusive evidence, just contending that the BUK launcher came from Russia, and returned to Russia after it had done the dirty work.
Much more plausible that it returned to Ukrainian held territory, as I am sure that Moscow would have picked a plane full of Ukrainians rather than one filled with Dutch, Malaysian, Indonesian and British passengers if it so desired.
Looks to me like the Ukrainian plotters wanted to kill Putin, mistaking MH!17 for his plane from SA, and then take advantage of the MH370 cockup in the cover up.
You seem to be conveniently forgetting the Ukrainian pilot who took off with anti-aircraft missiles, and returned shortly after without them; and the lack of air control tapes. BUK’s leave an extremely easy to see trail of smoke, visible for tens of miles, yet no first witnesses reported seeing it.
They did, however, report at least one other aircraft in very close proximity.
“Saudi Arabia blatantly ignored the protected nature of medical facilities and demonstrated a total disregard for civilian life in Yemen when it executed indiscriminate and apparently intentional airstrikes on NGO-affiliated hospitals, MSF said in two new reports.”
“The reports by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) were released on Tuesday ahead of a UN Security Council closed session on the protection of medical missions. The attacks described in the reports were on the MSF clinic in the city of Taiz on December 2, 2015 and on a hospital in Abs, Hajjah governorate on August 15, 2016.”
So the investigation was conducted behind closed doors, no live tv findings here.
How much longer will the world, allow Saudi Arabia to bomb and kill indiscriminately in Yemen?
Why do we not hear a outcry from Westminster, (a great ally of Britain ) or bulletins from the BBC, denouncing such vile acts of outright murder.
Is it because neither Putin, nor Assad are involved?
https://www.rt.com/news/360893-yemen-msf-saudi-airstrikes/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome
This blog – and not only this thread – seems to be turning into a relay station for what Russia Today is “reporting”.
Seems rather to flaunt the spirit of this blog…..
Guess you are not referring to me, Habby, ,as I never read RT.
Source of your convenient quotation?
No one’s suggesting that MH17 was downed deliberately. It seems the Ukrainian separatists mistook it for a Ukraine government transport aircraft like the one they’d shot down a few days earlier so the conspiracists favourite “cui bono” test is meaningless.
The clever thing for them to have done would’ve been to have owned up, put the guilty on trial and paid the compensation. That way Russia might’ve maintained some integrity, instead they chose to try and lie about it and lie about it badly, changing their story more than once. Of course the Putinistas are never going to accept this no matter how much evidence is laid before them.
“Of course the Putinistas are never going to accept this no matter how much evidence is laid before them.”
They don’t live in the reality based community they are part of the post-factual world. Evidence doesn’t matter when you create your own reality.
That is the best characterisation of the vociferous ones I have ever read.
Quite appropriate that your avatar is a swastika.
Innit, habby.
Blame the mods or whoever runs this website, Professor Herbie 🙂
It’s a random phenomenon.
Lady Fortune sure works in mysterious ways.
“They don’t live in the reality based community they are part of the post-factual world. Evidence doesn’t matter when you create your own reality.”
__________
A excellent description of the Westminster bubble, I’m sure that’s what you were referring to.
What evidence?
And can there be anything more absurd than the outpouring of appreciation for the contributions of Shimon Peres, who has just died, to Middle East peace?
Peres got Rabin to carry the can for the process in Norway, leading to his assassination, and the end of any peace with the Palestinians.
The US-Saudi, agreement to flood the market with oil, thus keeping the price down, has cost hundreds of thousands of oil jobs. This blatent act of sabotage on the ordinary working man/woman’s livelihood is despicable to say the least.
It’s in my opinion all in aid of weakening Syria, Iran and Russia, and I’ll tell you why.
In 2011, Syria, Iran and Iraq, sinced a deal to run a gas pipeline from Syria to Lebanon and on the Mediterranean, to supply gas hungry Europe. At that time French president Nicolas Sarkozy began his demonisation of Assad, as did the West in general.
Assad, had just discovered a huge supply of gas in central Syria, and was keen to try and get it too the EU market.
Russia, was also keen to run its Gazprom pipeline through the Ukraine, and on on into EU markets.
However the US and its Arab, allies, including Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE etc, had already agreed on a gas pipeline from Qatar, (which holds the worlds third largesr supply ) would been the chosen pipeline to reach Europe.
The war on Syria and the fracture of the Ukraine are Western made situations, they don’t want a Syrian or Russian gas pipeline feeding Europe, they want their pipeline from Qatar feeding gas to Europe. So they manufactured a war in Syria, and destablised Ukraine.
Meanwhile more and more jobs will be lost in the oil industry, and its suppliers.
The Russians don’t want to build anything in Ukraine. They are doing their best to work around it via Nordstream in the Baltic and other options further south.
Why be ordinary.
Thank you for that, according to this, the pipeline has already been laid down and is, functional, a second pipeline was laid down in 2012.
Both pipelines are currently pumping gas into the EU, though sanctions have seen the supply drop. It is the longest sub-sea pipeline in the world.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream
One can hardly blame Western Europe for seeking to obtain gas from alternative suppliers to Russia after it saw Russia turn off the taps to Ukraine during a recent winter.
The expression is “security of supply” and the vociferous ones of this blog would be the first to start denouncing the West if there was ever a shortage of available gas. 🙂
If you don’t pay your bills, you get cut off.
If British Gas can do it….
Hadn’t realised British Gas cuts off people for political reasons, Professor.
Just for not paying their bills.
Like Ukraine.
The shootdown followed several days of air attacks on the Donetsk separatists. I’ve always suspected that the West wanted to provoke a shootdown of a civilian aircraft by the separatists and/or the Russians, and that they therefore made the separatists trigger-happy with the air attacks, and then diverted the civilian aircraft so that it flew over the war zone.
Another conspiracy theory from the Master. Why do I always cringe when I see the opening words “I’ve always suspected”?
The Ukrainians have refused to release audio clips or transcripts of the communications between the Malaysian plane and the air traffic control in Kiev.
According to France24, Bulgaria has withdrawn its candidate for the UN Secretary Generalship and replaced her with the current Bulgarian EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva.
This is a most welcome development in that the former candidate was widely considered to be far too close to the Russian Federation and its autocratic ruler President Putin and thus an unsuitable future UN Secretary General.
We now have a much cleaner field of candidates.
Habb.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest, the Bush adminstration in 2006 engineered the appointment of Ban Ki-Moon, to UN General Secretary, because it wanted someone pliable, to replace the occasionally difficult Kofi Annan.
Ban loyally supported the Western military intervention in Libya even after many U.N. members—including Russia, China and the African Union—criticised NATO’s aggressive air campaign. When Ban ran for a second term as secretary-general in 2011, Washington smoothed his path.
However, Boutrous Boutrus Ghali, was not as compliant as Moon, when it came America’s wishes.
Oh look more false flag/hoaxes/it-was-anybody-but-Putin-or-Assad.
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2016/sep/28/aleppo-hospitals-are-latest-casualty-in-attacks-by-the-syrian-regime
Kempe.
Forgive me if I take your links subject matter namely Physicians for Human Rights, with a pinch of salt. A NGO based out of New York, with a office in Washington DC.
I could say taking their word as gospel, could be akin to throwing a drowning man, a bucket of water.
For Immediate Release
PHR Condemns Brazen Attack on Syrian Humanitarian Convoy
Physicians for Human Rights says attack “likely” carried out by Syrian or Russian forces
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/11/10/british-foreign-secretary-says-bomb-which-means-missile/
If sanctions have been imposed by the U.S.A. on Russia because of the downing of MH17
should sanctions also be imposed on I****l?