The media onslaught has moved past the attack in Salisbury by a “weapon of mass destruction” (quoting Theresa May) which could only be Russian, except that was untrue, and was extremely deadly, except that was untrue too. It now focuses on an attack by chemical weapons in Douma which “could only be” by the Russian-backed Assad regime, except there is no evidence of that either, and indeed neutral verified evidence from Douma is non-existent. The combination of the two events is supposed to have the British population revved up by jingoism, and indeed does have Tony Blair and assorted Tories revved up, to attack Syria and potentially to enter conflict with Russia in Syria.
The “Russian” attack in Salisbury is supposed to negate the “not our war” argument, particularly as a British policeman was unwell for a while. Precisely what is meant to negate the “why on earth are we entering armed confrontation with a nuclear power” argument, I do not know.
Saudi Arabia has naturally offered facilities to support the UK, US and France in their attempt to turn the military tide in Syria in favour of the Saudi sponsored jihadists whom Assad had come close to defeating. That the Skripal and Douma incidents were preceded by extremely intense diplomatic activity between Saudi Arabia, Washington, Paris and London this year, with multiple top level visits between capitals, is presumably supposed to be coincidence.
I am not a fan of Assad any more than I was a fan of Saddam Hussein. But the public now understand that wars for regime change in Muslim lands have disastrous effects in dead and maimed adults and children and in destroyed infrastructure; our attacks unleash huge refugee waves and directly cause terrorist attacks here at home. There is no purpose in a military attack on Syria other than to attempt to help the jihadists overthrow Assad. There is a reckless disregard for evidence base on the pretexts for all this. Indeed, the more the evidence is scrutinised, the dodgier it seems. Finally there is a massive difference between mainstream media narrative around these events and a deeply sceptical public, as shown in social media and in comments sections of corporate media websites.
The notion that Britain will take part in military action against Syria with neither investigation of the evidence nor a parliamentary vote is worrying indeed. Without Security Council authorisation, any such action is illegal in any event. It is worth noting that the many commentators who attempt to portray Russia’s veto of a Syria resolution as invalid, fail to note that last week, in two separate 14 against 1 votes, the USA vetoed security council resolutions condemning Israeli killings of unarmed demonstrators in Gaza.
The lesson the neo-cons learnt from the Iraq war is not that it was disastrous. It was only disastrous for the dead and maimed Iraqis, our own dead and maimed servicemen, and those whose country was returned to medievalism. It was a great success for the neo-cons, they made loads of money on armaments and oil. The lesson the neo-cons learned was not to give the public in the West any time to mount and organise opposition. Hence the destruction of Libya was predicated on an entirely false “we have 48 hours to prevent the massacre of the population of Benghazi” narrative. Similarly this latest orchestrated “crisis” is being followed through into military action at a blistering pace, as the four horsemen sweep by, scything down reason and justice on the way.
The effects of “Noviczech” (as the Tory Minister called it – ah, bless)-appear to be growing milder and milder as the days progress. One official version now has it that the agent had a delayed action of 4 hours to allow the perpetrators time to escape. However I suspect that the public will be more outraged that a cat and two guinea pigs were allowed to starve to death whilst Theresa May was fist-bumping the innocent folk of Salisbury…you couldn`t make it up. (Except they probably have…)
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You are correct Mr. Rubinstein; Indeed, I was so furious reading the Independent’s account of the needless starvation of the Skripal pets, what with Moscow having expressed EARLIER concern for them that I posted the following there ( if Craig will excuse the ‘not too bad’ profanity that is sometimes ENTIRELY appropriate (ask Eva Karene Bartlett about that …. 😉 … )
The Independent’s article is here:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/russia-sergei-skripal-pets-cat-guinea-pig-sealed-home-starved-death-salisbury-nerve-agent-novichok-a8291321.html
[BEGIN COMMENT AT INDEPENDENT]:
“Please be respectful when making a comment … ” it says; but … come on, so hard for an animal lover to be restrained:
For FUCK’s sake the cops, whoever, sweeping the apartment couldn’t feed and water the guinea pigs and cat?
…
So, it turns out there HAVE been innocent deaths owing to this cack-handed British Govt./MI5/MI6 FALSE Flag operation.
Bastards.
And Moscow showed more concern for these animals than the alleged (very much alleged it seems) animal-loving Brits.!??!
THAT’s about as respectful as I can be under the circumstances. A commenter at Craig Murray’s excellent ACTUALLY news-worthy blog was right about some Brits being as outraged at the death of these animals as anything else. Better had it been Teresa and Boris starved to death:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/04/the-four-horsemen-gallop-by/
ANd in a related story the West now rushes to turn Syria into Iraq and Libya – again on an utterly and obviously FALSE pretext also involving chemical agents (allegedly).
I understand Mass-Murdering serial War-Criminal Tony Blair, who should have been tried Nuremberg-style long ago and hung by the neck until in FAR more satisfactory condition, is all gung-ho about destroying Syria and the resulting inevitable ruination of millions more lives. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was walking around sporting a constant erection in anticipation.
:[END COMMENT AT INDEPENDENT]
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alied to the ‘new’ notion that Yulia received a lesser dose than her father so was better able to recover – Ch5 news last night
I didn’t know that Ch 5 still had a news programme….;O)
Even if there is organised public opposition, what good did it do in 2003? I can remember on ITN report on the massive demo when the reporter, Juliet Bremner, described the protesters as “peace mongerers”.
It led to the Chilcot report and a situation now where if we can march in the several millions we will have a strong impact on the public mind. Further I would advocate direct action like I did when the Israelis were mooting genocide as a solution and taking out entire neighborhoods to test their weapons. And what did my colleagues do here? They did roof top demonstrations atop of the buildings of UK based businesses supplying military equipment to Israel. And in the US we blockaded a port out of which military equipment is shipped to Israel. These coordinated planned actions worked if you then follow what was discussed in Parliament and in the US. I would suggest a mass march combined with direct action as I indicate above would work to stop a rush to war with Russia.
The 2003 demonstrations enabled us to make a successful case against UK airstrikes in 2013.
There wont be any mass public opposition… our only hope is Trump, May and Macron don’t wish to risk war with Russia and China at this time. I have little faith western regimes have an ounce of sense, ability to make rational decisions or humility. The choice is.. admit the world is no longer ruled by western uni polar tyranny or refuse to accept it and risk the end life on earth. This is the choice facing Trump, May and Macron…I have little hope of rational thinking and action from these leaders and of course NATO, military industrial complex and banks always want war….
Those demonstrations had a big impact and were well worthwhile. Of course, they did not achieve their immediate objective but it is wrong to think they achieved nothing.
“Even if there is organised public opposition, what good did it do in 2003? ”
Without public opposition Western governments would be waging as much war as they practically could all of the time.
A better version to publish if you wish:
I think we can now see in retrospect that the entire Skripal case was a psyop, maybe joint MI5/MI6/CIA/Mossad? Media assets have been deployed to steer the twists and turns of the narrative from day to surreal day. Much of the discussion has been frankly ridiculous in the context of the current higher-than-ever stakes in world history (eg the hamster story – and yes, I DO love animals too, but can we please be real?). It has been an effective use of the the famous Dead cat strategy trick – see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_strategy
The slow drip of anything resembling real information was minimal – but almost every day the media got us all fussing about details of that ridiculous case (no human being died, and we don’t even know for sure they were even ill at all!) – while the real action was to prepare the mass psychological ground for the (at the time of writing) threatened attack on Syria.
Much of the discussion – here and on other places where people are discussing the apparent slide to war – is chatty, jocular, often jubilant. It seems strange at a moment when humanity faces the abyss. Perhaps most people think (a) they can’t do anything to influence events and (b) things will probably work out OK for those of us outside the middle east (wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen etc have been bad but it doesn’t really change our lives in a noticeable way).
Both assumptions are false. This surely must be the most crucial time for global mass mobilisation. Certainly it is a key moment of our times. Securing world peace has become essential and every person of goodwill should do what they can now to pull our governments back from war-insanity. We need to lobby our politicians, demonstrate and above all wake our our fellows to what’s happening, many of whom are more interested in sport and soap operas.
When it launched a major missile attack on a Syrian airbase this week, at a time when a strike by the USA was already in the air as a possibility and without giving Russia prior notice, Israel displayed a devious recklessness that’s beyond comprehension. Anyone remember the USS Liberty?
Humanity needs to reconcile and make peace (with ourselves) so we can progress to global adulthood.
I think we can now see in retrospect that the entire Skripal case was a psyop, maybe joint MI5/MI6/Mossad? Media assets have been deployed to steer the narrative – much of it frankly ridiculous in the context of the current higher-than-ever stakes in world history (eg the hamster story – and yes, I DO love animals too, but can we please be real?). It has been an effective use of the the famous
Release of real info was minimal – but almost every day they got us all fussing about details of that ridiculous case (no human being died, and we don’t even know for sure they were even ill at all!) – while the real action was to prepare the mass psychological ground for the (at the time of writing) threatened attack on Syria.
Much of the discussion – here and on other places where people are discussing the apparent slide to war – is chatty, jocular, often jubilant. It seems strange at a moment when humanity faces the abyss. Perhaps most people think (a) they can’t do anything to influence events and (b) things will probably work out OK for those of us outside the middle east (wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen etc have been bad but it doesn’t really change our lives in a noticeable way).
Both assumptions are false. This surely must be the most crucial time for global mass mobilisation. Certainly it is a key moment of our times. Securing world peace has become essential and every person of goodwill should do what they can now to pull our governments back from war-insanity. We need to lobby our politicians, demonstrate and above all wake our our fellows to what’s happening, many of whom are more interested in sport and soap operas.
I also think it’s become essential to identify the main driving force for this seemingly inexplicable madness in the nuclear era, which I believe is international Zionism, including but not limited to the ruling elite in the State of Israel. (Note: Not all Zionist elite is Jewish, and it goes without saying that only a small minority of Jews are within the Zionist elite).
When it launched a major missile attack on a Syrian airbase this week, at a time when a strike by the USA was already in the air as a possibility and without giving Russia prior notice, suggests a devious recklessness that’s beyond comprehension. Anyone remember the USS Liberty?
Humanity needs to reconcile and make peace (with ourselves) so we can progress to global adulthood.
I have just emailed the Russian Embassy and Stop the War to ask if any demonstrations are being organised. Teresa May may seek to bypass public opinion, it’s important for people to get out there now, and not even wait for the weekend.
I’ve lobbied my MP, Zac Goldsmith, who passes on all my comments to the PM. At least he hasn’t come out with ringing endorsements for the PM, as he did with the David cameron, so that is encouraging. I think we must all put pressure on our MPs to say where they stand today, and let them know that they are accountable for what they do and say now.
I wrote to mine – no reply, not even the usual ‘while we cannot comment on individual cases, our government is working hard to ensure … etc etc…” BS
With their new missile systems Russia could change the nature of warfare forever by targeting our war criminals to make sure some of them are amongst the first to die in this war. Take it right to their door. Bring the front line to them and theirs in this one.
Man, that would indeed change everything. The likes of Blair, Cameron and Bozo turned into wet air – with no innocent parties harmed.
This site has just got back up – DDoS again?
Was just about to make the same comment.
I’m curious, too.
Mr. Craig, if this site errors again – how do we know you’re personally OK?
I could not access it for a while too.
I think Craig’s okay, at least when he put out this post. I think the issue is that he’s very popular – and with good reason – he’s rattling cages and ruffling feathers.
I too have noticed slow-ups that take a time to refresh. I have checked and the last time the checking station noticed the website down was last week. So far, his Cloudflare solution is working pretty well against attacks and serving the cached content while allowing lots of comments. Depending on how you look at it his site is getting 100,000 to 200,000 hits per day which is over one per second averaged out. This level of popularity attracts ordinary spammers as well as more focused ne-er-do-wells on a DDOS mission. It’s a WordPress powered website and he is using Akismet to block comment and logon spammers. I think for someone of limited resources and using off-the-shelf software Craig’s website is handling all of this pretty well.
Now in light of:
1. Trump’s outright blustering coupled to the piece by piece assembly of a “council for war” – see https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/news/2018/04/11/449383/trump-pompeo-bolton-path-war/
2. Trump’s continuous declarative finger-pointing of the word “traitor” at all and sundry
3. The almost clueless senate interrogations of Facebook’s Zuckerberg
…how long before US firms like WordPress and Cloudflare, (both of which Craig uses), how long before the allegations of traitorous behaviour are fingered their way. What will Matt Mullenweg do then? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Mullenweg
After all, using Trump’s skewed logic, Craig’s website (and anything else that disagrees with the current madness) could be deemed anti-american, anti-british and anti-freedom in the same way as Corbyn has been recently harangued. They could then say that it’s all WordPress’s and Cloudflare’s fault – giving terrorists the oxygen of publicity (paraphrasing what the Witch once said to the American Bar Association.
There’s an awful lot of websites that use Facebook pages as a conduit and signpost to themselves and many of these use both WordPress AND Cloudflare as easy technical solutions to running websites. Many also use cloud server solutions from Amazon and Google to serve images and more. So Trump et al may not be aware of WordPress and Cloudflare, but they’re well aware of one of Trump’s least favourite gents in Amazon owning Bozos and the claimed “liberal” Google (the do no harm mantra of google is long gone now).
Likewise in he UK, May has progressively cut down web freedom though tappings in law. The EU, too, has not helped with some of their privacy laws. Now, if you want to find out info on a crooked politician (say) on the internet, many search results are blocked using EU law. People can now quite legitimately hide earlier wrongdoings, dodgy finances and collusion meetings in their lives.
The trouble is that nearly all of it is a US republican ultra right-wing driven agenda. They seek to control absolutely before their core electorate die off and get replaced. Trying to do it technically in the internet while continuing the ideals of open business and profiteering are two mutually opposed ideas.
I see figures stating that about 3/4 of Americans under 25 have an iPhone, a staggering figure, at odds with the rest of the world. If these people can only get WXPR TV or whatever, Fox News and a castrated Facebook on their expensive push button trinkets, they will realise that thy are not free,
Governments are starting (through internet lockdowns of ISPs) down that road but will ultimately cut off their noses to spite their faces. When that is absolutely realised (i.e. when the penny drops that closing the internet and just leaving one centrally controlled set of TV stations as entertainment won’t work as the people will erupt in consumerist outrage), then war becomes the only option to everything.
And at the very root of the right-wing agenda is:
1.maintaining the petrodollar
2.maintaining the dollar as a reserve currency
These two give the US as a country and as its citizens, vastly cheaper borrowing costs than anywhere else in the world.
A 3rd used to be about oil, but since the US has decided to pollute their country by becoming self-dependant on shale oil that isn’t an issue anymore as it once was in Kuwait say, decades ago.
And yes, agreeing with others, the UK has already been in Syria for ages. And yes, I agree with Craig’s brilliant summary 100% .
To find any motivation for war follow the money…..Reading by Liaquat Ahamed explained to me the reasons for WW1 and WWII……history lessons were unable to explain….now follow the money and greed and it will make the motivation for WWIII clear,The petro-Yuan has been launched see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pGlOJRLEp4 However even I am surprised that greed seems to surpass the politicians concern for their personal lifes and that of their relatives in case of a nuclear war, could they have been threatened in any other way to act as irrational as they seem to?
A little Tory creep (Chris Philp) on Sky News just now would be quite happy to go to war without Parliament being recalled.
It is frightening how few voices there are to speak out against this swill from the MSM,
The usual – McKinsey. Bow Group. Property PUSS to Javid’s bunch. His book -Conservative Revival: Blueprint for a Better Britain’ LOL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Philp
https://media.giphy.com/media/3rWu35ITW3VMEQk9za/giphy.gif
#CoalitionofthePigSwilling
yet another interesting POV
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/04/09/skripal-poison-case-becoming-british-hostage-scenario.html
why does this not appear a valid position for Russia to take?
Will a click-activist start a campaign on Avaaz or Change.org to “free Yulia Skripal” ?
Send a message to SpartUSA.
Stop buying Coke. Stop using Facebook. Stop using Google. They will hear.
The £$ in your pocket is the greatest daily voting right you have and they don’t want you to realise it, much less use it.
Don’t think so?
Ask Starbucks if they think otherwise.
Ask Israel if the think BDS isn’t an issue.
Hey, and maybe we could honor MLK on this, the 50th anniversary of his death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ve_Been_to_the_Mountaintop
Craig, (1) we already have boots on the ground in Syria by way of Special Forces and there are a few articles on this that may allow us to say ‘it is on the public record, (2) we have British pilots flying US kit under US command in the region, (3) there has also been reports that we have supplied and provided logistic support for several rebel groups as well as US forces, (4) MI6 are allowing many young Brits to travel to fight Assad on the side of the Kurds.
On (4), anarcho syndicalism and related ideologies are being used to radicalise some of our young people to travel to fight and academics like David Graeber (who is, imo, CIA backed and I’ve spoken to David directly on this and we were once to meet for coffee), are facilitating the ideological radicalisation here and helping folk to travel.
My point is we are already at war in Syria and have been for some time now and there has been no vote in Parliament.
“The PM told Donald Trump she will not act until there’s more evidence of Syria’s culpability, the Times reports.”
Presuming this is an accurate report from RT (I’m never going to pay the Times) So Teresa TM is quick to jump to conclusions when there is no possibility of reprisals but not so quick when there is a danger of nuclear war. It’s a start.
U.S. Designates 22 Targets, Including Russian, To Strike In Syria And Other Speculations Over Developing Escalation
https://southfront.org/u-s-designates-22-targets-including-russian-to-strike-in-syria-and-other-speculations-over-developing-escalation/
It is shame all of us here will only get to meet as radioactive dust swirling across the earth.
If that’s the price I’ll have to pay to see a measure of justice handed down to Albright, Bliar, May, Orangino, Mekon, Obomber, Netanyahoo etc blah then so be it.
I take comfort in the near-certain knowledge that in this war on the day I die so will most of them. And if any make it to a bunker they’ll soon find that being the last to die isn’t the same as surviving. Do they really think their bloodlines can outlive radiation? Ha ha ha!
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I give a dismal HEAR! HEAR! to you sentiment.
I am so FED up of the US with its Western sycophant poodles turning country after country into barely survivable blood-soaked dust-piles. And don’t get me started on the Palestinians and Gaza.
The ONLY way this will end is if the ball is firmly put in their court for a change: their bluff is called to the hilt.
If it turns out the the ultra-violent US – internally as well as externally as we know – is actually clinically insane enough not to brook having their bluff called, and the result is nuclear war, then with you I say SO BE IT, and here’s hoping Russia/(CHina) whoever get all “their” off UNIMPEDED.
I’ll be proud to be called a traitor on this: a traitor to to the endlessly war-making, mass-murdering West is a World PATRIOT.
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I am surprised Craig did not mention the disastrous intervention in Libya, that did not end well either.
It did for the perpetrators; oil and slaves a-go-go.
Sorry Phil. Was writing my comment when you posted the one above. I probably didn’t need to repeat it. 🙂
Luckily there are still a few sane voices around. I posted this under one of Craig’s other posts, but it’s worth distributing it again.
Peter Ford is an ex-Ambassador to Syria.
Peter Ford Dropping Truth Bombs on BBC Radio Scotland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j_Z1f84Ps8&feature=youtu.be
Good to see sceptical views and condemnation of MSM sabre rattling on response to no independence evidence finding it’s way to MSM – in attempts to cut it off .
Very good summary of how we have arrived at this point, Craig. I would simply add that, in addition to the factors you discuss (personal gain from guns and oil), another significant enabler that emboldened the neocons (and liberals) was the impunity that they have enjoyed since.
The lack of accountability for the horrors that their policy choices (they didn’t stumble into an unplanned or ill-thought out war, it was the active agency of policymakers and govts. that led to war) visited on tens of thousands of people, has gone unpunished. That is why people like Blair, Bolton and others can keep invoking the same interventionist mantra, and to do so (as we heard yesterday from Blair) without recourse to even the figleaf of legality (no need for a Parliamentary vote or UNSC Ch. VII Resolution still less evidence).
We shouldn’t underestimate the sanctimonious faith in their cause that motivates these people. Impunity and unaccountability facilitates the ossification of the nobility and faith of their cause. If it doesn’t work properly first time around, it’s due to improper planning or preparation or some other obstacle that impedes the realisation of the purity of that political vision. It is tge same logic that drives neoliberalism and the renewed vigour with which it has been pursued since 2008 in the name of economic necessity.
Unfortunately, until they are brought to account and their projects condemned in a juridical sense, we will continue to repeat both the tragedy and the farce.
And keep up the good work, Craig.
P – it looks to me as though China is going to step onto this stage very soon in support of Russia and Syria – they abstained at the UN this week but, clearly stated nothing other than a political settlement in Syria will be acceptable. Any military intervention will not be tolerated. The Chinese Defence Minister arrived in Moscow. China holds 1.3billion dollars of USA and more in treasury bonds. Let’s see what happens next
The suggestion that Syria is seen as a last stand for Russia, China and others is an astute one.
@Jo
Really sympathise with your ‘hope’ but -“China holds 1.3b $ …& more in treasury bonds” – is really not a major problem. The USA has an infinite supply of $, just like UK has an infinite supply of £. A few computer keystrokes is all takes. I do not know for certain but I would guess that the Chinese hold trillions of $ etc rather than billions.
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Indeed P., their santimoniousness is underestimated, and it’s clear they even think they have some kind of ‘academic’ validity behind their murderous World fascism: “Rebuilding America’s Defenses”, Genocidal Geographers Halford MacKinder and Nicholas Spykman are being followed and the latter two I have no doubt taught in all the Western/NATO War colleges. And NONE of them has paid the just price of the Hangman’s noose.
Still, there’s always nuclear war.
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Ironic the World Health Organisation would deliberately allow itself to be misquoted in order to support mass killing.
They claim the symptoms they’ve heard about are consistent with some form of chemical poisoning. That’s about as vague and unscientific as you can get.
Those with access to social media should be calling on the director of WHO to resign.
WHO said, “…According to reports from Health Cluster partners, during the shelling of Douma on Saturday, an estimated 500 patients presented to health facilities exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals.”
I don’t know who the Health Cluster Partners are. Guardian dropped the “…According to…” bits.
Somehow there’s a Monty Python skit in there… 😉
@ Michael Tucker April 11, 2018 at 12:06
Probably the West’s proxy mercenary headchoppers’ PR agency, the ‘White Helmets’.
When searching the terrorist bases in east Ghouta, the Syrian Army found receipts for significant amounts of money ($15,000 at a time) originating from Doctors Without Borders. The funds were for the benefit of the ‘central hospital, Ghouta’.
https://z5h64q92x9.net/proxy_u/ru-en.en/https/colonelcassad.livejournal.com/4110421.html
The problem is there is never any murder of neocons, prominent UK vassal politicians or Saudi headchoppers.
I am fully in favour of Tony Blair being executed without trial if it saves 100,000 Syrian lives, prevents depleted uranium from spent ordnance giving Syrian foetuses abominable abnormalities etc etc. I consider Tony Blair to be utterly expendable, utterly worthless and absolutely unworthy of any form of human rights, especially the right to trial by his peers.
The same can be said of the vast majority of US Congressfolk and Senators, not to mention all UK MSM news editors, all the wastrels who read propaganda from screens and call themselves news reporters and certainly including Mohammed bin Salman and Bibi Netanyahu. And it absolutely includes neocon genocidalists like Bolton, Pompeo, Haspel, Haley, Nuland, Wolfowitz etc etc……and it absolutely includes the billionaire banksters like Soros, the Rockefellers and Rothschilds etc etc whose genocidal fascism has endured for too many centuries….
I have absolutely no interest in their fate and if I had to choose between their children and the children of Syria in who to spare and who to let die, I would spare the children of Syria.
This does not make me a traitor, it makes me an ethical person who punishes the guilty and spares the innocents.
We all know the cowardice and draft dodging of these money grabbing parasites.
NOT IN MY NAME Revolutions need to occur pretty much now…..how quickly can 25 million decent Americans descend on DC and scream NOT IN OUR NAMES! NOT IN OUR LIFETIMES!?
Ditto 5 million in London, 5 million in Berlin, 5 million in Madrid, 5 million in Rome, 5 million in Warsaw and 25 million in Brussels……
That is an excellent post Rhys and one which I totally agree with.
Spot on Rhys. Spot on.
:
Hear, hear!
(Hey, Craig, how about accepting my fbook ‘friend’ request then I can get your screeds and links to them straight in my ‘newsfeed’, and so not have to ‘hunt them down’?)
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Tony Blair would only accept execution by crucifixion on the basis that he rose on the 3rd day.
Which he probably believes will occur. I think we should be tolerant of his beliefs.
I made a one line comment on the previous post but thought I might expand it following your observation about mounting and organising opposition.
It has been pointed out that Corbyn has not been terribly vocal or visible apart from supporting investigation and measured responses. All very welcome of course and a glimpse of sanity but as yet no calls for an anti-war march or rally. Not that I have seen anyway and of course he may well just do that.
Well of course should he do this he will be vilified by the press, Johnson will be spewing out his enemy of the people tweets and some members of his own party will be sharpening their knives.
But it also strikes me that he has just been ‘exposed’ as an anti-semite. Of course a jew hating friend of Hezbollah would support the beast Assad, wouldn’t he?
These ‘revelations’ might just be coincidence but very useful to neutralise a potential focus of dissent before making further moves.
Might be a good time to write to your local MP.
Whether or not they agree with you, they will at least note the balance of opinion.
And if it is clearly against war, this may give them pause for thought.
It’s quite easy to do this here: https://www.writetothem.com/
Thanks James for that link, I would love to think that we could share that with as many people as possible.
I’d just like to say how much I appreciate your invaluable contributions, Craig. It’s a relief to see that public life still contains people like you, with intelligence, integrity, knowledge and what looks suspiciously like real courage, to spare.
I only hope that Corbyn has your kind of willpower somewhere, and that he comes out 100% against this madness and the slide towards something even worse than conventional warfare.
We’ve become to used to seeing ‘war’ as a form of ‘entertainment.’ Since Vietnam we’ve fought wars where we massacre the natives on a biblical scale, whilst we triumph almost unscathed, compared to the mass destruction and slaughter we rain down on them. Not only is this bad morally for us, it also lulls us into a false sense of security about the true nature of war and that we too can be ‘slapped’ in return. I fear we may be about to learn some very harsh lessons indeed, if we are still capable of learning and reasoning. I have my doubts. Our culture may have degenerated too far.
The Russian reaction is going to be key here. They have to respond if Syria is under major attack. The question is how far do they go? Do they respond aggressively or do they just defend themselves over Syrian airspace? How will the Americans react if the Russians fight back, and hard? It’s a dilemma for the Russians. They don’t want to start sinking American ships and killing American sailors, unless it’s the last resort. Unfortunately wars tend to have a ghastly and brutal logic of their own once they start. It would all be so much better if the Americans didn’t attack Syria. Is it even going to be possible to stop this thing escalating if the US starts taking casualties for a change?
@MichaelK
I’m russian and I can say in the name of most russians – we will be as patient as possible, considering very carefully each action taken IF war begins. We all know and remember what WAR looks like.
If only the West could also be wise and reasonable! They seem do not realise how deeply they’ve already insulted us and what level of madness we see from our side.
Unfortunately the Anglo Americans are not wise or reasonable. The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War II the Anglo side less than one million between them. Anglos have this sense of invulnerability, and think that war involves killing others but not suffering themselves.
Declaring nuclear war on Twitter shows that Trump et al are not capable of understanding their actions. Polite language from Russian diplomats does not work when dealing with psychopaths
Michael Great analysis. Russia is taking great pains to beseech the USA not to take military action because it knows it will have to retaliate – Syria after all is a sovereign nation who has not declared war on the USA or any other country. Assad is practically in control of the whole of Syria now – a standpoint from which to rebuild the country and peace within it. I guess the USA and UK want to invade Syria to destabilise it again and they will involved Israel too. There seems to be too much in the Press about how ‘allied forces’ have lost x numbers of service men and women without a moment’s consideration for the substantive loss of civilian life in the countries they have invaded. Double standards. I don’t know about you but I am really worried about the really dangerous situation we find ourselves in right now.
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Well, I certainly DO want to see American ships being sunk – those ships that unleashed the tirade of Cruise missiles against the Syrian aribase a while ago SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUNK.
None of this Western murderous aggression will ever stop unless they pay a price – a price hardly commensurate with the horrors they have unleashed but to make them consider just what lengths are they really willing to go to to implement their “Mein Kampf for the 21st Century” (aka in rough terms: “Rebuilding America’s Defenses”).
What possible use is it as I believe Lavrov has just said to just shoot down missiles directed at Syria? – hell, for sure the missiles from those ships that were fired a year or so ago would surely still have made it to Syria, but those PARTICULAR fucking ships would have GREAT difficulty firing any more ever again from the bottom of the Mediterranean. I have little doubt that the West saw the lack of response as a sign of weakness – and they were probably justified in doing so; so to this day they are even more dangerously emboldened by the lack of their (including Israeli) jets getting “splashed”, and Russia so far behaving like pussies.
Then we HAVE to find out : Are the bludgeoning Jackbooting Yanks and their sycophant poodles really willing to go nuclear in frustration at the thwarting of the continuation of their Global Fascism?
This is something the World HAS to find out – or forever figuratively bend over and grab its ankles at the will and for the pleasure of the United States of World Horror.
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“We’ve become to used to seeing ‘war’ as a form of ‘entertainment.’ Since Vietnam we’ve fought wars where we massacre the natives on a biblical scale, whilst we triumph almost unscathed, compared to the mass destruction and slaughter we rain down on them.”
Fifty years of the imperial British having the same experience led to the First World War as a reality check. A hundred years later are we about to have to learn the same lesson again?
When we had the Skripal “poisoning” and the constant flow of rhetoric from the government – May, Johnson, Williamson were the worst by far, and then the resultant expulsion of Russian diplomats, I described this as being akin to stepping on an escalator of jeopardy, where our politicians (with the notable exception of Jeremy Corbyn), seem unable to know where they are going, and have no plans to stop the escalator.
However, if I thought that things couldn’t get worse, I was unfortunately very mistaken.
This latest “chemical attack” – if in fact it actually happened – has incredible timing, as it happened only days after Trump said he was withdrawing US troops from Syria. It also happened as the last remnants of Eastern Ghoutta were being cleared, so why would Assad decide to use this kind of weapon at this time – the man is for all his faults, intelligent and well educated, and well aware of the US response after the previous alleged attack.
Why does our media ignore the slaughter in Yemen, Israel’s actions against Palestinians?
The answer could have a lot to do with what Tony Blair referred to as the “New World Order”, and the following Youtube video, where ex general Wesley Clarke talks frankly and chillingly about the Neocon plan to invade seven countries in five years, including – Iraq, Libya, Syria and Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=9RC1Mepk_Sw
with the cesspit of dirty politics i would just like to spare a thought for the ordinary Syrian people in the middle of all this who no doubt like most people worldwide just want to live as peaceful a life as possible, i doubt very much if the US appetite for war with support of sycophantic UK is intended to achieve this end but to serve their own interests, perhaps the real motive for war was exposed by senator Roger Wicker in the Tucker Carlson interview when after being asked ”what is America’s interest in Syria” he replied ”well if you care about Israel”, seemingly the US considers Israeli lives more valuable than Syrian lives. —- US has a history of starting war on lies, the Gulf of Tonkin lies in Vietnam, the WMD lies in Iraq, and now Trump who has made such a big issue about condemning fake news is planning war on the back of what may actually be fake news, as for such things like legalities it seems laws only apply to the fallen, Bush and Blair walk free.
I saw that interview, and although I generally hate everything about Fox News, I thought that Tucker Carlson was very considered and thoughtful, and totally realised the potentially lethal situation which is currently brewing.
The Israel comment by the senator was extremely telling, because Trump, Netanyahu and John Bolton are very pro Israel and anti Iran, and removing Syria would move the US one step closer to their goal of regime change (for the second time, 1953 and 1979) in Iran.
Clearly the Russians have developed a new nerve agent for use in Syria, known as Kidichoks, it leaves adults completely unaffected. The effect of this groundbreaking development can be observed in the scrupulously unbiased ‘White Helmets’ video production.
I have, these past weeks, entertained the thought that Nutella should, for shits and giggles, just issue a new flavor, and call it ‘Novi-choc’, or ‘Nova-choc’.
Might appraise it like: just apply with knife, no doorknobs needed, invigorates, and a few more odd characteristics.
After the Iraq WMD debacle it would be almost impossible to get any public backing in the UK, Salisbury not withstanding, dfor entering into a full scale war in Syria. All the government has to do is to seek a vote in the H of C for it to be rejected.
I see there are rumours that the “new” centre ground party being set up I the UK, has signed up Tony Blair. That should kill it’s chances stone dead. Most of the British publi regards him as effectively a war criminal.
I wouldn’t bet against the House of Commons voting for war. Remember the excited applause for Hilary Benn’s outrageous speech which likened voting to send the RAF to bomb Syria to the heroism of the ordinary men and women who volunteered to join the International Brigade and fight the Fascists in Spain? The idiot appeared to be moved by his own rhetoric, and so did much of the House.
I am disturbed by the apparent eagerness of some on these threads to see the Russians prove their new weapons against “the hegemon”. This seems to me to be the mirror image of the enthusiasm of those in the Pentagon who want to test US mettle against another “great power”.
Jiusito, I remember Hilary Benn’s speech and was absolutely appalled that it had come from a Labour MP. As Jeremy Corbyn pointed out in an interview, for politicians in parliament to be cheering, laughing and applauding military intervention that would result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians is not acceptable. War and massive loss of life he said, is not something that should be considered either funny, worth applauding and cheering for and acceptable.
Yes but I think there would be such an outcry from their constituents that MPs would really have to think very hard about voting for it, regardless of speeches from Hilary Benn.
And since then, the nearest we have come to the cheering of that disgraceful Hilary Benn speech was the baying and booing at Corbyn when he dared to recommend caution with regard to the Salisbury incident.
‘Over the last month Russia has several times warned that such fake gas attacks were being planned by the so-called ‘rebels’. It also warned the U.S. that any strike it might take in ‘retaliation’ of such a fake attack would endanger Russian troops and installations in Syria. The Russian said they will respond to any severe U.S. attack with a strike against U.S. missile launching platform – be they jets or ships.
Israel immediately tried to further escalate the situation. Last night it hit the T4 airport in Homs with 8 cruise missiles launched from Israeli planes flying over Lebanon. The T4 airport is in the middle of Syria. Some Iranian drones are stationed there next to Syrian planes and helicopters to help in the fight against ISIS in east Syria. The damage was relatively light, but the Israeli strike requires a response. Russia had so far not commented on any Israeli strikes on Syria. This time it was first to condemn the attack. It will no longer hinder Syria or Iran should they decide to launch a counterattack on Israel or its interests.
Douma, where the alleged ‘gas attack’ happened, is now accessible. The terrorist of Jaish al-Islam are being evacuated to Idleb governorate. Russian military police entered and did not find any indication for the alleged chemical incident. The OPCW or some other organization could investigate the situation. This would as usual take several weeks.’
Ex Syria – Any U.S. Strike Will Lead to Escalation
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49187.htm
My heart sank when I saw the mugshot of Tony Blair pop up – won’t he ever go away and leave us alone? As you have witnessed, even if there were undeniable proof of any facts at all, whichever party was proven guilty, it would not affect our government’s actions one jot. They are mired in the old colonial ‘Great Game’ mindset where winning at any cost is the only consideration.
Whether you are a fan of Assad or not is irrelevant. You are not Syrian and don’t live in Syria. I suspect many Syrians would not be fans of May and they have a right as she is threatening to their lives.
“But the public now understand that wars for regime change in Muslim lands have disastrous effects in dead and maimed adults and children and in destroyed infrastructure; our attacks unleash huge refugee waves and directly cause terrorist attacks here at home.”
I completely agree. Apart from the young people dead and wounded, there are hundreds of thousands of children and young adults who have been basically excluded from any form of education for seven long years. Together with the physical destruction of the country’s infrastructure and the theft of natural resources that could fund the reconstruction, this whole mess will slow down any kind of recovery for years to come. How many decades will take for Syria (or at least, what remains of it) to achieve a level of development comparable with the one it had before the war started in 2011?
The scale of material and human destruction is appalling.
rarely in the history of propaganda has so much hysterical bullshit been spewed out by so many media hucksters for the bamboozlement of so many. The problem is that even quite decent people are sucked into the war-mongering machinations of the Toffs.
One is appalled at the apparent indifference of the young especially to the killing of hope about which Eisenhower spoke -“humanity hanging on a cross of iron” . In turn,this is, of course,largely attributable at its base to the “willing slaves of capitalism” syndrome which has been inculcated almost without a challenge for c. 40 years.
Arabians deserve better than being juxtaposed with the Saud perverts; the normal ones are Arabians. There is a Saud regime and a country called Arabia.