Many thanks to all the staff, medical and otherwise, at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary who hauled my carcase out of the ambulance and restored it to an appearance of intelligent life over the last five days. A timely reminder that we never know when disaster will strike, and need to make progress all the time. I am now thinking how to intensify my campaigning for Scottish Independence.
Profound apologies to those who submitted orders for signed copies of Sikunder Burnes and have not received them yet. By a happy coincidence I am restored home and this same day the new print run has arrived at the warehouse, so I will get on to it right away. Hopefully the book will now get into the shops well before Christmas. Very few have actually ever appeared in a shop, largely because to date almost all stocks have been hoovered up by online suppliers. Promotion has also been patchy, particularly in England, and I am very grateful to the efforts of blog readers in that respect on my behalf with bookshops. Continuing feedback is still very welcome.
******************************************************************************************************
Signed First Editions are now available direct from this blog! You can leave a message naming the dedication you want. Sold at cover price of £25 including p&p for UK delivery, £29 for European delivery or £34 everywhere else. Ideal Christmas presents!!
That is good news. I am really pleased you are better and up and running again.
Great to hear you’re out Craig, I’m at home with my broken hip – the people of St Mary’s Paddington have been incredible to me. I hope you experienced similar in the REI
Hello Craig, congratulations and thanks for the good news.
Great to have you back up and running Craig, have a great Xmas
I’m pleased you are returning to action. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. I’ve just finished ‘Sikunder Burnes’ and found it every bit as interesting and enjoyable as anticipated. It is an excellent bit of history and I will get you to sign it if our paths ever cross. Many thanks for your hard work in preparing this book. I wish you every success with it. Best regards.
Thank heaven for the NHS!
Meanwhile, here in the U.S. Obamacare is apparently about to be repealed, and Republicans are talking about privatizing Medicare.
Just tips of the massive iceberg with Trump trying to break up China, Russia and their allies abroad, and potting human rights of all Americans, especially its original natives, at risk at home.
Trump is becoming a full blown Hitler.
China is a bullying nation with a nationalistic temperament and imperialist ambitions. That somebody is finally standing up to China is a good thing in my book.
China is dependent on the West to buy all its tat – and to invent and design all the things it rips off – so what is it going to do?
When it comes to bullying nations, no one else comes close to what the USA and its toadies are up to.
Just look at their military budgets, their forces around the world, their regime change, their neo-con ambitions, their man-made earthquakes and weather modification, etc., ad nauseam!
Where on earth are you?
I think you’ll find that China is playing a much more sophisticated game than that and may already be beyond any American leader’s ability to deal with, new Hitler or no new Hitler!
Don’t know why my post about the Pentagon’s Robert Gates killing many of China’s leading scientist in May 2008 with that massive earthquake at Science City was taken down, but I shall just repost it for Mr. Galt who seems totally ignorant about the covert missions that Washington is carrying out against China,
“China is a bullying nation with a nationalistic temperament and imperialist ambitions. That somebody is finally standing up to China is a good thing in my book”
Trump isn’t standing up to them, he’s trolling them on twitter.
Funny though that the very same media and politicians who’ve threatened Russia with violence, get so upset that Trump trolls the Chinese.
Complete fakes.
Complete frauds.
These clowns.
I agree – and am astounded that not more people are expressing the same thought. There is a lot of chaff on this blog about Western “imperialism” but a strange silence about China.
Techno
spot on.
forced abortions anybody?
Craig,
If a mind like yours were not used – what would you do with it?
Get to work and please to hear that you are out and about again.
Courtenay
Glad to see you back on track.
Please keep two on hold for me. I live in China and I’m currently having problems ordering/paying as I need the VPN to order but can’t use the VPN for payment.
Good to hear it! Have an enjoyable Christmas 🙂
Glad that you are out and about now, though I think that it is a bad time to seek Scottish independence again as it will just add to the chaos which is leading the world into the abyss.
Should fight growing efforts by the USA and the UK to break up Russia and China into its national components which just helps their efforts towards world domination.
” I think that it is a bad time to seek Scottish independence again as it will just add to the chaos which is leading the world into the abyss.”
^^^^^^^^
Care to elaborate Trowbridge? In my opinion, there has never been a better time, for Scottish independence, with the Eye of Mordor (Westminster) firmly focused on Brexit.
Just have yet another once in a lifetime Referendum RoS
see how you get on this time.
same as last but with EVEN LESS SUPPORT
Did you see this Trowbridge?
http://motherboard.vice.com/en_uk/read/us-power-will-decline-under-trump-says-futurist-who-predicted-soviet-collapse
Glad to hear you are on the mend.
Take care
Glad you are recovering well, and back home. Do I detect a sneaky attempt to get round instructions to rest, relax and take it gently, in ‘the need to make progress all the time’? Sounds pretty fishy to me.
But very glad you’ll be blogging and campaigning. Always such a good read….
Glad tidings indeed.
Oh, I see now. Someone has changed my user name.
Happens all the time, Trow…
I suspect someone deleted your comment bout thousands of Chinese scientists being deliberately killed in a USA induced earthquake because it was bonkers. There is however no actual rule against ludicrous comment.
Maybe he meant Iranian scientists.
That was only in the tens though.
And murdered by bomb and pillion passenger.
So that’s alright.
“There is however no actual rule against ludicrous comment.”
Whew!
That’s what I thought, for all our sakes.
UN Resolution 31/72 prohibits environmental modification for hostile purposes. It dates from 1976 so ludicrous notions like that have been given credence by the UN for quite a while.
You are free to say whatever you want, Craig, but the earthquake certainly occurred, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was most complimentary of Danny Stillman’s figuring out that lacrosse laser satellites could prevent the nuclear express from spinning out of control by destroying the whole process which occurred in Science City in 2008.
Gates even volunteered this on the dustcover of the book Stillman and Thomas Reed wrote about rooting out the process: “(Stillman’s) ability to adapt the latest advances in science to solve unmanageable problems and to analyze foreign technologies made him an invaluable asset to the Intelligence Community.”
To ignore all this is the height of looniness.
“There is however no actual rule against ludicrous comment.”
The moderation is so helplessly arbitrary that the rules are rather meaningless; all you need to remember that you must not upset or embarrass Craig too much, otherwise you will banned as happened only last week to Phil (Ex Frog).
It’s a self-acclaimed “Free Speech Blog”, but just watch what you say !
Watch this comment magically disappear ! 😀
Macky,
You can disagree with me all you wish. But for some reason Phil from time to time works himself up to deeply personal attacks on my character and motivation. I have no intention of putting up with that on my own blog. And it is a very clear and repeated breach of the “play the ball not the man” comment rule.
Oh, wonderful Craig, to see you playing the ball when it comes to me!
Oh, do tell us more about the nuclear express, and how to stop it.
Speaking from personal experience, I would not say that the moderation is hopelessly arbitrary.
On the contrary, there is a method to it but it is not an honest method.
Its main characteristics appear to be the following:
1/. Certain favored posters (eg Sharp Ears) are protected whereas others who are in bad repute with the Mods (eg Michael Norton) are not; they are considered fair game without being any more childish, extreme or tedious than the protected ones;
2/. There is no moderation rule or request of Craig’s which cannot be broken – provided, it seems, that the offender is one of those (the majority) commenters whose general outlook presumably coincides with that of the moderators.
3/. An exchange of comments tends to get cut off whenever the moderators feel (presumably) that is has gone on for too long and is becoming sterile. Fair enough, but, curiously, the cutting off usually results in one of the acceptable, on-side commenters being left with the last word;
4/. It may well be that the occasional comment from one of the acceptable, pensée unique posters is deleted but when this happens I suspect it occurs only in the mist extreme cases, either to protect the poster against himself or to protect the blog (and therefore Craig) against reputational damage (this is how I would explain, for example, the dramatic decrease in the appearance of anti-Israel posts: it is not that posters aren’t trying but rather that the mods (and Craig) wish to shake off the reputation the blog has acquired in certain quarters).
Now, it is an open question whether this entire curious way of applying moderation policy us at the behest of Craig or whether the moderators have been landed with a task requiring a degree of honesty they do not possess. Or perhaps a mixture of the two, with Craig giving the moderators a wink and a nod and then distancing himself.
If the former, then perhaps Craig should come clean and adopt as the blog’s slogan “there is no censorship except when there is”. If it is the latter, then Craig should perhaps go over to a system of full moderation with moderators kept under better control.
Thanks to Macky for bringing up this matter.
See nothing about when Craig just goes bonkers, playing the man in a most vapid way rather than the ball which i expected when you posted, Habby.
For those interested in the US attack on Sichuan in May 2008, read The Nuclear Express from dustcover to dustcover.
@Craig,
So just like I said then; this “play the ball not the man” is rather disingenuous when used to shield yourself from all criticism, as in addition to disagreeing with somebody opinion, often that person only holds that particular opinion because of a specific agenda or motivation, and we all naturally take into consideration these ulterior motives when refuting or questioning a person’s opinion; for example when you sometimes insert a superfluous anti-Russian sentiment in your comments, I often call this out for the Russophobia that it is, and to me this is down to you being of a certain age, class, education , career orientation, of a period of intense Cold War, where Russia as the “Enemy” was, (and still is), the given prevailing doctrine/ orthodoxy, especially if you wish to become part of the Establishment, as you certainly did under Blair, and wouldn’t have done if you a Russophile.
There is also the question of hypocritically not practising what you preach, as I’ve lost count the number of times you have accused me of working for the Kremlin ! 😀
I believe it was craig who arbitrary deletions are. necessary, so they are acceptable losses like collateral damage.
Habbs long winded post @17.56pm, summed up.
Let me (Habb) post more of what I want, but delete immediately anyone who criticises Israel.
Macky
No one – least of all I – would say you are “working” for the Kremlin, at least not in the generally accepted sense of the term “working”.
Money being tight even in President Putin’s Russia (low oil price, too much money salted away abroad…etc), they would not waste their money on employing people like you. They would not be getting value for their money.
What Craig and others on here probably believe, Macky, is that you are – for reasons about which it might be unkind to speculate – merely one of the Kremlin’s “useful idiots”.
These have existed throughout history.
RoS
Your “summing up” does not disappoint those who have some inkling of your general level of comprehension and seriousness.
Habbakuk: Re protection of certain posters. I seem to remember Mary complaining about her posts being moderated. Secondly, we do not see all that is moderated and so conclusions are based on very limited or almost no data.
” merely one of the Kremlin’s “useful idiots”.”
LOL ! 😀
If I’m an “idiot”, useful or otherwise, why do you always end up with egg on your face whenever I bother to engage with you ?! What does that make you ?! 😀
“I seem to remember Mary complaining about her posts being moderated”
Indeed, despite a couple of years of vile harassement from Habbabkuk , in the end it was the bizarre moderating that made Mary leave. A fact that exposes the nonsense of his point about Mary being a favourite.
Another fact that make nonsense of his claims about others having general outlooks that coincides with Craig/Mods, and not having the last word, is that often his view exactly coincides with Craig’s, and the number of times replies to his insults & smears are deleted, but his comments are allowed to remain, is imho proof of a definate bias, not against him, but to protect him.
Habby can’t distinguish between propaganda and reality.
The idea was that the propaganda would do the heavy lifting in terms of the population, but internet access changed all that.
People can research for themselves and find out what’s what, without need of “priests” at msm telling them how they should think.
And they’re really pissed now that they’ve been rumbled.
The latest to emerge is some drivel from Merkel, who doesn’t appreciate reality very much either.
It’s laughable really.
These clowns can’t operate other than with an extremely fawning media.
Even then they have to buy them off.
Rather than what these idiots are claiming we’re actually entering a new realism.
It’s that that they can’t stand.
– “…in the end it was the bizarre moderating that made Mary leave”
So Mary thought, and so Macky repeated, ad nauseum, even after the two comments Mary believed had been deleted were found on different threads. Macky itself amplified the false belief that caused Mary to leave.
– <em"People can research for themselves and find out what’s what, without need of “priests” at msm telling them how they should think"
If only that were true! Unfortunately, many people have not yet discovered how to discern well-evidenced assertions from suggestion and innuendo, so wild speculation floods the Internet faster than anyone can sift fact from fantasy.
Still, it’s better than nothing, and better than it was.
“So Mary thought, and so Macky repeated, ad nauseum, even after the two comments Mary believed had been deleted were found on different threads. Macky itself amplified the false belief that caused Mary to leave.”
@Clark, despite your words being completely misleading, I will try to be nice; it seems you have a problem understanding the word “bizarre”, so I will explain (again); having a group of ordinary everyday as key-words that causes people’s comments to vanish, because unknown to them at the time, these trigger-word containing posts automatically go straight into “moderaion”, is not a rational policy, is it very, very bizarre. Mary was not the only poster who left because of exactly this bonkers policy; people did/do not know why their posts had failed to appear, so assumed the worse, ie censorship, and by the time when & if the comments were eventually released, often several hours later, the point was effectively lost as the debate had move on, and/or pages have changed. If Craig is determined to keep this bizarre policy, on a supposed “Free Speech Blog”, then real-time moderating of all comments is required, otherwise people, who can spend a lot of time in making some posts, will continued to get hacked-off when their efforts go to waste, and may even assume ulterior motives for this bizarre policy.
Er, the incident I described was long before the keyword measures were introduced. To quote my own comment above:
– “Unfortunately, many people have not yet discovered how to discern well-evidenced assertions from suggestion and innuendo”
Clark; “Er, the incident I described was long before the keyword measures were introduced.”
Well then you’re not reffering to what I posted about; I know what I posted about, but haven’t got a clue about what you are alluding to; and in this respect yes, your very own words, seem very appropiate;
“Unfortunately, many people have not yet discovered how to discern well-evidenced assertions from suggestion and innuendo”
Some people get hacked off by arbitrary moderation.
Others get more hacked off by endless arguments about moderation.
His gaff – his rules. If you dont like it stop whingeing and go somewhere else (as you told us the annoyed subject of this argument did, with your own helpful hints about how to find her)
It’s Craig’s blog and he can run it any way he sees fit, and he doesn’t have to answer to anybody. If you don’t like that then stop your whining and go start your own blog. It isn’t as if they cost anything.
Ah ! The Philistine Argument of Piss Off If You Don’t Like It ! 😀
Where is your self-respect if you see behaviour that doesn’t seem right to you, but you refuse to say anything simply because of where it happens ?
Anyway.
How could Western policy have been so incompetent as to push this pair together:
http://russia-insider.com/sites/insider/files/putin-laughing_1.jpg
And not just that.
They’ve pushed really unnatural allies like Russia, China and Iran together.
Surely the West ought to have been dividing these.
What has the last 26 years of Western policy been about.
What was its purpose.
Curious.
The answer is ‘hubris.’
The US decided, after the fall of the USSR, that history had come to an end and it had been proclaimed the winner. Instead therefore of attempting to divide its rivals it dropped all pretense of policy and indulged itself in its essential obnoxiousness-insulting and attacking everyone.
As to its ‘allies’ it told them that, from that point on, they should simply await orders.
At the same time that it was assuming that it ruled the world the US ruling class decided that it no longer needed the support of its own people-so it commenced a war, by malign neglect, on its working class, exporting capital, closing down plants, lowering trade barriers and commercialising public services.
Why not? The more unemployed and underemployed people there were the more recruits there would be for the forces, the prison guards and the police to take care of the stroppy elements among the poor by imprisoning them.
And thus it was that the US empire, at the very peak of its power, having concluded that it was invulnerable, descended into impotence.
And few can claim to have done more to ensure the USA’s downfall than the likes of Blair and Straw (not to mention Niall Ferguson) whose fawning admiration for their master’s raw power erased any lingering doubts that the likes of Clinton and Bush might have had about their policies.
For this would should be grateful: it is not the enemies of the Empire who cause it most damage but its friends, including those who rule it.
Yes.
Excellent summary, as ever.
But.
In order to fully achieve the NWO it’ll have been necessary at the same time to run down US power, that US domestic elites couldn’t have challenged that NWO as it undermined US local interests.
So there’ll have been a two-pronged approach.
Neoliberalism to destroy nation states, including the US, and neoconservatism to force unwilling states to neoliberalism.
Seems they couldn’t quite manage that tango.
Even though they’d replaced the US military with contractors and hybridists, it seems there was still enough puff in the carcass to stand up to them.
Hence Trump.
Sorry, Bevin, I usually agree with most of what you write, but this is far too simplistic and optimistic.
In the so-called ‘free world’ capital has triumphed. The capitalist system is a political system – capital has ultimate power. Capital trumps nations, nations have to serve capital, as seen in TPP, TTIP etc. Amongst nations under capital, the US is prime minister. ‘Free world’ nations do as US directs, hence we can indulge in having BoJo as Foreign Secretary, our foreign policy being simply handed down to us by the US Secretary of State.
And of course US armed forces are the enforcement arm of capital.
Russia and China operate capitalist economies, but as Eric Li (I think) pointed out in John Pilger’s film, capital is subservient to the state in those countries.
Capital, and the US as its vizier, are determined to make China bend the knee. I expect ideally they would like to Balkanise the country – they seem very into this in recent decades. The threats illustrated in the Pilger film are intended as threats, the pressure being inexorably cranked up. I think the new cold war on Russia is more concerned with persuading it to cut links with China, especially in terms of energy supplies.
In the old cold war there were attempts to play off Russia and China, but it is now obvious to both that they have to stick together to stand any chance of resisting the US, so there is no point trying to play that game.
As for Iran, the US has been trying to foment war between Sunnis and Shia for decades, but the Saudi rulers have huge influence over the US built up over the years of oil supply and recycled petrodollars, and they have been forcing the issue of late.
So, although the US has lost ground economically, I think it is quite happy, and probably under instruction, to take on all comers using its overwhelming military superiority. HRC was, I’m sure, progammed for this. God knows what will happen with Trump. Dont write the US off though.
Pleased to hear our healers have you on the way to recovery. Ensure that you are fully recovered before fully re-entering the ongoing fray and oncoming confrontation. Our Country needs your ilk.
Seconded. And think very seriously of moving to the country, leaving the city. Then let the world come to you.
“I am now thinking how to intensify my campaigning for Scottish Independence.”
^^^^^^^^^^^
Good to read that you’re feeling better, maybe a few lifestyle changes are on the cards?
Anyway as for your above sentence, you’re not alone, the grassroots movement has began working to that very goal. Already in Inverness the YES movement has taken over old enemy territory, in the shape of Danny Alexander’s HQ in Inverness.
The unaware unionists in here trumpted a recent poll showing support for independence is on the wane. However the poll asked a massively disproportionate number – over 27% – of its respondents born outside Scotland.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-gambit/
Meanwhile Alex Salmond has led a SNP delegation to Norway. To hold informal talks with the country’s political leaders, to discuss all options that will allow Scotland to remain in at least the (EEA) and (EFTA).
Though in my opinion independence, is really the only way forward.
I thought you lot of Scottish Nationalists wanted to be governed by the European Empire?
Norton.
Westminster laws, and the retention of powers, have a far more significant affect on Scotland as a whole, than EU laws.
Independence will remove a needless layer of government, namely Westminster.
Stop whinging about Westminster, you people have been saying for many years you want to be “Independent” within
the European Empire.
Be honest and tell us, that as the European Empire is cascading into the Mediterranean
you are not quite so keen to be the plaything of Frau Merkle
“Be honest and tell us, that as the European Empire is cascading into the Mediterranean”
**********
Norton only you could be so melodramatic, over the EU. You forget that David Davis, has widely intimated that Britain could pay into the EU, to gain access to the single market.
Hardly a sign that the EU is a House of Cards, is it now.
As for Angela Merkel and her CDU party, in my opinion, I think she’ll serve a fourth term, and I’m also quietly confident she’d welcome a independent Scotland into the EU fold.
In terms of intensifying your campaigning Craig if you do not wish a repeat visit you should seek to improve your physical fitness by whatever means are appropriate and are at least tolerable to you. I’m not insisting you run up Arthur’s Seat forthwith. But I recall in the last campaign meeting you in Dundee whilst you were under the weather and wish to have you with us for a long, long time in full and robust health.
I was going to make a similar comment Craig. If you want to live long enough to see Scotland become independent it might be best to ease off, lose some weight and take some exercise. Lay off the drink for a bit too.
Glad to hear you’re back home and feeling better.
Irene
Meanwhile the Ministry of Truth, comes under the spotlight again.
“The BBC is facing a fresh scandal, as an audience producer for its Question Time show was revealed to have links to far-right groups Britain First and the English Defence League. Viewers who have felt the show favours right-wing panellists and audience members feel this goes some way to vindicating their argument.”
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/12/05/fresh-scandal-erupts-bbc-might-explain-question-time-became-right-wing/
I gave up watching the bias QT ages ago, during the Scottish indyref in 2014, Dimbleby wore his unionist colours on his sleeve so too speak.
Now it’s Europe and the left, tnat Dimbers has a go at constantly.
Lord Keen, advocate general for Scotland, appeared in the Supreme Court this morning.
6h ago
12:15
Now, it’s Lord Keen QC, the advocate general for Scotland, who is dealing with devolution issues.
Dominic Casciani @BBCDomC
• In short: Lord Keen’s job is to argue there are limits to devolution and, therefore, ScotParly etc can’t veto #brexit
• Here’s the government’s submissions on why devolution can’t stop the triggering of Article 50 and #brexit https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/574047/Supplementary_Supreme_Court_Printed_Case_of_the_Secretary_of_State_for_Exiting_the_European_Union.PDF …
• Core argument from Lord Keen: Laws behind devolution transferred no responsibility for UK’s foreign relations to Scotland, Wales & NI
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2016/dec/06/brexit-article-50-supreme-court-hearing-day-two-live-updates?page=with:block-5846af53e4b049350cc96795#liveblog-navigation
At this rate, there will never be any Brexit and now the EU are putting a time limit on negotiations via Michel Barnier, a protégée of Barosso who is now the non exec chair of Goldman Sachs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Barnier
I assume Lord Keen appears for the Westminster government.
Facebook
Twitter
Barroso not Barosso.
Juncker questions Barroso’s decision to join Goldman Sachs
Goldman’s role in financial crisis leads president of European commission to criticise predecessor’s choice of job
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/sep/15/jean-claude-juncker-jose-manuel-barroso-decision-to-join-goldman-sachs
Ha!
13 years ago, Richard Keen QC as he was then, before being ennobled nin 2008, earned £600,000 pa
Now ??
61 RICHARD KEEN QC Advocate
600,000 Known as the rottweiler, Keen is the Scottish QC most other advocates least like facing in court. He left a bewigged opponent close to tears after a 1999 mauling in a committee room of the House of Lords over the proposed scrapping of hereditary peers. Keen specialises in commercial law, property law and administrative law and has made only one, pretty spectacular, intrusion into the criminal courts to defend Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah in the Lockerbie trial. Keen’s defence was faultless and his client was cleared. Keen enjoys the trappings of his wealth. He lives in Ann Street, Edinburgh, one of Scotland’s most prestigious addresses, has a small castle in Fife as a second home and a passion for sports cars.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/who-earns-what-part-2-1-664494
D’you know what, I read that myself this morning!
But thanks for reminding me.
************************
BTW: Mario Draghi worked for GS before becoming Director of the Italian Treasury. So what?
The “so what” is that Goldman Sachs alumni are running the main central banks and financial institutions of the world
And not in the interests of their populations, but, like the BBC, in the interest of bankers and other corporate elites.
Their function is to economically destroy these countries, the better to implement their plan for global dominance.
There’s some indication that a response to these parasitic scum is emerging.
That’s what’s “so what”
Yup.
Goldman Sachs alumni run the major central banks and financial institutions of the world.
We’ve them to thank for the destruction of our economies, in favour of the 1%.
And much else.
“Goldman Sachs alumni run the major central banks and financial institutions of the world.”
_____________________________
On a point of information, Herbie, could you flesh out that claim just a little?
Please name those major central banks and financial institutions and the GS alumni who “run” them, preceding that information with your definition of “running them” (it would also be helpful if you were to mention the positions those GS alumni hold in the Central Banks and financial institutions of the world and how much of their careers were spent working for GS).
Generally speaking, it would be helpful if assertions were backed up by verifiable facts when they are posted.
Thank you.
Here’s Europe. Lovely graphic and everything:
“While ordinary people fret about austerity and jobs, the eurozone’s corridors of power have been undergoing a remarkable transformation”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/what-price-the-new-democracy-goldman-sachs-conquers-europe-6264091.html
The US and others:
“And so with this appointment, the Goldman Sachs diaspora grows a little bit more influential. It is an old-boy network that has created a revolving door between the firm and public office, greased by the mountains of money the company is generating even today, as its peers buckle and fall.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/how-goldman-sachs-took-over-the-world-873869.html
Bloomberg addresses the matter:
“Wall Street Is Running the World’s Central Banks”
“Last week’s appointment of Neel Kashkari to run the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis as of January means a third of the Fed’s 12 district banks will soon be run by officials with past ties to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Kashkari also worked for Pacific Investment Management Co. and managed the U.S. Treasury’s $700 billion rescue of banks during the financial crisis.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-17/what-wall-street-s-return-to-central-banking-may-mean-for-policy
The Mail’s view:
“How the vampire squid is controlling our lives: They helped cause the crash. Then profited from it. Now, from the Bank of England to the Fed, ex-Goldman Sachs chiefs are pulling the levers of power”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2591299/How-vampire-squid-controlling-lives-They-helped-cause-crash-Then-profited-Now-Bank-England-Fed-ex-Goldman-Sachs-chiefs-pulling-levers-power.html
You can check other of the little darlings here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_employees_of_Goldman_Sachs
So, as per usual, you’re the last one to know.
I invite everyone to read Herbie’s links very carefully, with a view to assessing for him/herself (1) the extent to which they actually answer the precise questions I put to him about his sweeping assertion and (2) their precision and seriousness (ie, their value).
1/.The first two links are from a newspaper (The Independent), from 2011 and 2008 respectively.
As a sample of their value, here is en extract from one of the articles:
” On the other side of the deal, working in the National Bank of Greece, was Petros Christodoulou, who had begun his career at Goldman, and who has been promoted now to head the office managing government Greek debt. Lucas Papademos, now installed as Prime Minister in Greece’s unity government, was a technocrat running the Central Bank of Greece at the time. ”
The careful reader will note that there is no mention of when and for how long Mr Christodoulou worked for GS ; to enlighten him, it was almost 30 years ago and from 1987 to 1989 (three years, for the numerically challenged). Furthermore, the ignorant reader would not guess that Mr Papademos has never worked for GS.
2/. The third link reveals that 4 of the Federal Reserve’s 12 district banks will soon be run by officials with past ties to GS.
3/. The fourth link devotes itself to telling us that the new Bank of England deputy governor for monetary policy has worked gor GS on the past.
4/. And finally, the fifth link consists of a list of people who once worked for, or had connections with, GS.
That list includes all manner of people in many walks of life. They include luminaries such as a former governor of the National Bank of Nigeria and a Mr Evan McMullin. Never heard of the latter? But you must have, surely? He was an “independent candidate for President in the 2016 US Presidential election”. There now, you’ve learnt somethong about the power of GS 🙂
The conclusion is that Herbie must try harder. Gamma minus. I advise sticking with posts on the Illuminati, where he could probably assemble a better case. 🙂
And still, despite habby’s dissembling, the facts show that Goldman Sachs alumni run the major central banks and financial institutions of the world.
It really is quite amazing the extent to which habby will go to deny the obvious.
“the facts show that Goldman Sachs alumni run the major central banks and financial institutions of the world.”
______________________
You have still not presented any facts to justify that assertion, Herbie.
As I have shown, the “facts” you claim to have presented via your links are somewhat less than convincing.
All you have done is to show that there are some people who once worked for GS for a shorter or longer time, in the distant or not so distant past, now working in some Central Banks and financial institutions of the world.
That, my dear Herbie, is a far cry from your assertion that the “alumni” of GS “run” those entities.
Gamma minus (again).
The media sources above have come to the conclusion that Goldman Sachs alumni run the major central banks and financial institutions of the world.
That’s why they’ve made an issue of the matter.
Perhaps you don’t understand what the term “major” means in this context.
Or you’re simply lying as per usual.
“The media sources above have come to the conclusion that Goldman Sachs alumni run the major central banks and financial institutions of the world.”
_________________________
These are the same media sources you usually decry, Herbie? The media sources that will write anything for a “story” and exist as the tools of the great puppet masters to fool the peeps and sheeple?
PS – did you even read them carefully before you linked? If so, it is you who’s doing the lying (as usual). 🙂
The BBC.
What strikes one when one reads all this slagging-off of the BBC (both television and wireless) as a tool of an evil “Establishment set on deceiving the ognorant public – and, consequently, the proud claims that “I never watch or listen to it” (claims often contradicted by frequent links to it and even unsolicited and otiose announcements about forthcoming programmes such as “Question Time” – is the concentration of spurious indignation on its news and current affairs features.
Indeed, the impression a foreigner who does not know the BBC would get is that the BBC is a full-time, 24/7 news and current affairs arrangement.
In reality, of course, the BBC’s output is infinitely more vast than this misleading picture, catering to a wide public by presenting programmes on every conceivable subject. Even a superficial look at its schedules shows that, contrary to the misleading picture presented, news and current affairs only account for a small proportion of its overall output (this has in fact come in for criticism from numbers of viewers and listeners but happens to reflect faithfully the objectives set out in the BBC’s Charter). The BBC is there to cater to the population as a whole and not a small number of news junkies whose approval or disapproval happens to coincide most strangely to whether or not the BBC’s news output reinforces their own particular prejudices.
So, the conclusion mist be that the critics on here should devote less time to raving away about the BBC’s alleged lack of balance in the news and current affairs sphere and more to thinking about whether own evaluations would not benefit from greater balance.
“The BBC is there to cater to the population as a whole”
Complete and utter nonsense.
It caters to the interests of financial and corporate elites.
Were it catering to the population as a whole, politicians and others could never have thrust their disastrous financial policies upon the population.
Nor could they have so easily taken us into neocon wars abroad.
It’s all guns, and very little butter at the BBC.
And handsomely they pay themselves too.
Goes without saying, eh. Always the same.
There’s far far better work on Youtube etc than was ever done by the BBC.
“It’s all guns, and very little butter at the BBC”. Wonderful quote-and as true as any I have seen.
LOL
‘….and even unsolicited and otiose announcements about forthcoming programmes such as “Question Time” –’
Habbabkuk
November 24, 2016 at 18:07
O/T but as a point of information:
The panellists on tonight’s “Question Time” (BBC, 21h45) are as follows : Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, businessman John Timpson and Professor of Economics Mariana Mazzucato.
Sounds like a balanced panel (note the presence of Mr Cor-byn’s Treasury lead) and a potential good watch. I shall be following the discussions with great interest.’
From Having Fun on Russia Today
“The BBC is there to cater to the population as a whole”
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Indeed it does cater for the whole, by prosecuting those who won’t pay its enforced tax. The BBC with its enforced licence fee, is a extortion racket that Al Capone would’ve been proud of.
The BBC is primarily a propaganda machine that we are forced to pay for, whether we like it or not.
Maybe people criticize the BBC because they are a lying, mendacious and duplicitous organization.
It is true that the BBC is about more than news – say music for example. For reasons known only to itself the BBC decided to institute a ban on playing records by Cliff Richard. At one point Mr. Richard opined that the BBC ban on his music was responsible for “ending his career”
The BBC of course retained an interest in Mr. Richard – in particular they demonstrated a strange and obsessive interest in his house being raided by the Police.
Now that time has passed and Cliff Richard has been informed by the Police that he will face no criminal charges and that Cliff Richard has informed the BBC that he intends suing them the man is seldom off the BBC.
You can go through every aspect of the output of the BBC and it will be infected with lies and duplicity. Even their weather forecasting service is subject to the same venal behavior – for what reason did the BBC terminate contractual arrangements with the Meteorological Office?
Max Keiser on the BBC;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W0EL_fxZZg
Many good links iro academic and peer-reviewed studies demonstrating right-wing BBC bias here;
http://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/thread/1481050958.html
WikiLeaks reveals 57,000 emails from the son-in-law of Sultan Erdogan, ‘proving his connection to ISIS operation smuggling oil into Turkey’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4006568/WikiLeaks-reveals-57-000-emails-son-law-President-Erdogan-proving-connection-ISIS-operation-smuggling-oil-Turkey.html#ixzz4S5K5aDE5
Despicable slime ball
He will soon be surrounded by countries and peoples who hold him in utter contempt.
Are we allowed to mention Italian food and a structure that can be swung, drawn or lowered to block an entrance..?
I’m amazed that more people haven’t picked-up on what David Seaman talks about in this video he’s just posted…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltnzaFI9dsI
Shall I compare thee to cognitive dissonance on a summer’s day?
All the best on the health front. Book made it into Foyles and Waterstones on King’s Rd and Islington last month.
If Trump appoints Huntsman as Sec of State than the two of them together are going to make a fascinating study in gamesmanship strategy and the tactical introduction of wildcards.
This is a brief excerpt from an essay I wrote many years ago. It’s about the history of Mongolia, a country I traveled through in 1990 (and where I almost died from a severe form of dysentery). In 1990, the Soviet Union was in the process of collapsing, and China was just starting to open up. We took a slow rail journey from Moscow to Beijing (where bicycles still reigned supreme), and spent about a week in Mongolia…
“After Genghis Khan’ s death in 1227 (and surprisingly he died from natural causes) his descendants continued to rule the Mongol empire. Needless to say, they were all, without exception, ruling through an alcoholic haze and the stories of their drinking are well documented. Despite this, though, the Mongol empire continued to grow until it reached its height under Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan’s grandson. The Mongols rule now stretched from the shores of the Pacific to eastern Europe. In 1275 Marco Polo visited the court of Kublai Khan in what is now Beijing (Peking) and was astounded by its magnificence – this was the period that the Chinese call the Yuan dynasty.
Following Kublai Khan’s death in 1294 (he did die through alcoholism) the Mongol empire began to fall apart and after 300 years of chaos the Chinese Manchurian empire rose to take its place. In 1638 the Chinese expelled the Mongol dynasty – the Yaun – and made it a policy that never again would Mongolia be able to threaten them. As a result of this Mongolia was turned into a vassal state, a vassal state that was purposely neglected by China.
The Mongols had always practised Shamanism (the worship of spirits) and during this period the Chinese introduced Tibetan lamaism, some say in an attempt to sap the fighting spirit of the Mongols. The Mongolians took to lamaism, it suited their earlier notions of the spirit world, and the first Grand Lama was treated like a witch doctor or Shaman. He was followed by six other Grand Lama’s throughout the preceeding centuries and with each the power and wealth of the Church grew. Unfortunately, so did corruption and debauchery.
By the early 20th century, Mongolia had become one of the strangest societies on earth, a grotesque church-state on a path of terminal decay. The king of this bizaare state was also its high priest, the eighth Grand Lama, Khutukhtu. That this priest-king suffered from syphilis and was a sexual deviant was of no particular consequence; he was revered as the spiritual leader of the country. This, despite the fact that he enjoyed exchanging clothes and playing role-reversal games with one of his male servants, was paralytically drunk for weeks at a time, and had as his consort, or ‘the holy goddess’, the former wife of a wrestler, who was notorious for her sexual capers with other Lamas, including her hairdresser.”
For the record, I found Mongolia back in 1990 to be a wonderful country, even though it was very poor (the severe dysentery came from food eaten while traveling across Russia/Siberia). I’m making this somewhat indulgent post because Mongolia in the early 20th century has some striking similarities to USUK in the early 21st century.
& who then do you see as today’s US version of the Mad Barron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg?
Obama and Hillary.
These people are complete psychos.
I had thought you might suggest Trump.
The Brexit lie.
Don’t buy into it, are you listening Norton?
http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2016/12/06/very-quietly-liam-fox-admits-the-brexit-lie
No more fried Mars bars for you then pal ! Am off to see Tommy for Xmas..Keep well !
Hello Frazer. I hope all’s well with you.
“..In reality, of course, the BBC’s output is infinitely more vast than this misleading picture, catering to a wide public by presenting programmes on every conceivable subject. ..”
Hyperbole, anyone?