The Four Horsemen Gallop By 457


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.


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457 thoughts on “The Four Horsemen Gallop By

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  • Jo Dominich

    Good analysis Phil. There is an operation between the USA and UK to destabilise the Middle East and it is clearly to do with Israel becoming the dominant force in the region with USA and UK backing. Nikki Halley is quick to call Assad a monster (which he is not and we should stop referring to Heads of state in this manner) but vetoes a UN resolution to condemn Israel for the attack that killed 17 people in Gaza of unarmed Palestinians. I am unclear as to why she doesn’t refer to Netanyahou (himself a terrorist in his earlier life and a legitimised terrorist now – still adopting terrorist tactics in Palestine. There seems to be a massive double standard operating here alongside the fact that Trump has axed all financial aid to Palestine in the last two months. I don’t know where this is going – to full Nuke war or not but I do know we are way past the danger point created by the Cuban Missile Crisis and a megalomaniac in the White House.

      • N_

        Excellent interview by Peter Ford. It’s only a few minutes long and everyone should listen to it. Two other points he makes: “evidence” regarding the alleged chemical attack in Douma comes from CIA and headchoppers, and Trump is going to kill Russian servicemen. He in effect supports the Russian diplomatic position in favour of a proper investigation, and he is right.

      • fred

        If there is one thing this blog has taught me it’s not to much faith in what ex ambassadors say.

        • Robyn

          fred, odd that you’ve learned from this blog not to have much faith in ex-Ambassadors. Surely you couldn’t be referring to Craig whose courage and reputation for honesty and integrity are second to none.

  • Baron

    Millenia of civilisation to end on a pathetic lie, quite fitting that for the human species.

  • Ophelia Ball

    11:57 Trump Tweet:

    Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!

    • Republicofscotland

      Opheila.

      Ditto.

      Trump in my opinion, is such a egotistical blowhard, that if a strike was on the cards he couldn’t keep it a secret, hence the tweets beforehand.

      • Golubitsa

        Hang on a second, mister President. Can you just clarify something for me – I thought Russia apparently helped you to get elected, no? Is that your way of saying thank you?
        A president of any country and even more so a president of such country as USA, who tweets something like this and ready to start the war on the basis of no f…..g evidence and a pack of lies – that is who is a true animal.

    • Jo Dominich

      But Trump’s ok with being friends with an Israeli killing animal who thinks nothing of massacring Palestinians (Jenin), carpet bombing Gaza, instructing the IDF to shoot unarmed and harmless Palestinians and many other atrocities in Palestine. Assad is the better person I feel, to be friends with.

    • Ophelia Ball

      and this, Ladies & Gentlemen, is what “Western Civilisation” has come to – the soi-disant “Leader of the Free World” declaring war, calling people names and referring to destructive weaponry as “nice”

      I fear that we probably we deserve everything we are about to get

      • Ophelia Ball

        too many wee ‘we’s’ in that last Comment; can anyone tell me what tags to use for italics or [u]underlining[/u]?

        thanks

        • Node

          can anyone tell me what tags to use for italics

          I don’t think there is a HTML tag for underline any more. Use bold instead?

          These work fine on most browsers:

          For italics, use [i]your text[/i]
          For bold, use [b]your text[/b]
          (replace the square brackets with pointy sideways brackets)

          …though strictly speaking you should use these (but they take longer to type!) :

          For italics, use [em]your text[/em]
          For bold, use [strong]your text[/strong]

      • Jo Dominich

        Hi Ophelia, indeed this is what it has come to. I have been for a long time now and still continue to be appalled at the way labels such as ‘monster’ ‘animal’ and other insulting untrue statements are made about International Heads of States. The only monsters in this game are Trump, May, Bojo and Netanyahou. Whatever happened to diplomatic relations, to dialogue, to decency and respect in international negotiations. I guess a megalomaniac in the White House masquerading as a President is the lowest of the lowest the world has reached.

    • Tatyana

      @Republicofscotland
      I’m sure the first strike will hit Douma, no need for OPCW to even bother
      Let’s pray for there would be no provocation shooting

      • Republicofscotland

        It’s a good possibility, that might happen, attack the crime scene before any evidence, or lack of evidence in this case can be established.

        The west and it’s murderous allies Saudi Arabia and Israel, do not want the OPCW to reach Douma and carry out their investigation, no they are itching to pull the trigger and go to war.

  • Vivian O'Blivion

    One aspect of this post gives limited scope for hope. The spectrum of scepticism is interesting. Craig, George Galloway and Cenk at TYT are welcome but expected contributions. Peter Hitchens, Sen. (rtd.) Ron Paul and Tucker Carlson may be what really counts.

    Fox “News” have the full right wing spectrum covered and some of their commentators are outright rabid in their warmongering.

    If the comments on Daily Mail Online are predominantly sceptical (I refuse to darken their web portal) in relation to Salisbury then there may yet be hope.

    • Jiusito

      Peter Hitchens was redoubtable on Jeremy Vine’s show on Radio 2 just now. And Jezza himself said that almost all the emails, tweets and calls they were getting from the public were horrified by the way we are sliding towards a Third World War. A 15-year-old Scottish girl phoned in to ask, with remarkable passion and eloquence, why our leaders couldn’t find a way to resolve things that doesn’t involve war. It all gave me some hope.

  • Squeeth

    No, that’s a myth, the ion zits tail does not wag the imperial dog; it is expedient for Caesar to pretend that he’s beholden to the contractor because critics can be smeared as inmate sites.

  • Republicofscotland

    The more I see US UN delegate Nikki Haley, the more I think of her as a lying twisted weasel, and to see British UN delegate Karen Pierce, wave her hand in support of Haley, like an obedient little school girl, the more I realise what a joke the British establishment has become.

      • Republicofscotland

        Her counterpart Heather Nauert, is the spokesperson for the State department, worked for Fox news.

        They’re a right pair.

      • Jiusito

        Thanks for that insight. I’ve just discovered that her parents are Sikhs who came originally from the Amritsar area. A disconcerting bit of historical resonance there…

      • Quentin

        That’s a good one! Her religion too, from Sikh to Christian. She always/often wears a small gold cross dangling from a chain around her neck.

    • Ophelia Ball

      I am not a violent man – particularly not towards women; I never have been. But whenever I see Nikki Haley, I wonder why not

      I think that the evidence is now conclusive – I am naive. Guilty as charged. But, stupid or not, I still aspire to a level of international diplomacy which is elevated above name-calling, gratuitous goading, and theatrical amateur dramatics such as walking out when the Syrian representative begins to speak

      Let us hope that whatever ultimately comes out of this circus / kaleidescope of lies / charade leaves us in a better place – perhaps featuring such blithely optimistic attributes as the annihilation of the entire western political class, a new sense of realism and respect for people we may happen to disagree with, and an instinctive aversion to lies and blatant mindless aggression

      hey, I GET IT already! – I’m naive! But I sense that pretty soon now dreams and memories are all any of us are going to have left

      • Ian

        ask her if she is still watching Binomo (if you saw the report on the spoof call by two comedians pretending to be Polish politicians)

      • Jo Dominich

        I wonder how Nikki Haley has ever been deployed to this post. She is dangerous, ignorant and rude. She also fails to condemn Israel for the atrocities they are committing in Palestine – I wonder why she doesn’t condemn Netanyahou as a terrorist and an animal?

      • Quentin

        Well, the walking out shtick seems to be the new fashion: Angela Merkel walked out of parliament when the Afd leader got up to talk. Very clever, subtle of Angela.

  • Baron

    The most relevant, factual piece of evidence never quoted by any of the MSM poodles is the Stephen Davies’s letter to the Times, the letter says it all, everything else is totally irrelevant, possibly misleading, just a noise.

    “Sir, Further to your report (“Poison Exposure Leaves Almost 40 Needing Treatment”, Mar 14), may I clarify that no patients have experienced symptoms of nerve-agent poisoning in Salisbury and there have only ever been three patients with significant poisoning. Several people have attended the emergency department concerned that they may have been exposed. None had symptoms of poisoning and none has needed treatment. Any blood tests performed have shown no abnormality. No member of the public has been contaminated by the agent involved.

    STEPHEN DAVIES, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust”

    One either believes him or a bunch of mendacious politicians, no contest this.

    • Ophelia Ball

      Stephen Davies is a non-person; he has now been un-existed, and if you look at the group photos which adorn the walls of the Salisbury NHS Trust politburo, I expect you will find that his photograph has been airbrushed out

      Forget Stephen Davies. Forget that letter to the Times. Forget Yulia Skripal. Or else.

        • Ophelia Ball

          SAY WHAT? You want proof? OK, I’ll give you proof:

          Google “salisbury nhs stephen davies” and look at the “Meet the Team – Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust” link (which appears as #5 in my results)

          Click the link

          Now try to find any reference to stephen davies

          as I have conceded before – I am naive. And so, apparently, are you if you think we will ever hear either from or of Dr Stephen Davies ever again

  • JEFF Nicholas

    First of all Syria is a secular country not actually Muslim. Secondly Assad is nothing anywhere like Saddam Hussein as there is no evidence his troops have caused atrocities in his land.
    The White Helmets have staged this attack in my opinion as they did the same in 2013 which was later proved to be a false flag.
    I agree with everything else you say and hope you continue to inform us of what our MSM isn’t telling us.

  • Christina Downes

    Great to have facts and logic. Wish this was in msm. Although I’ve abandoned it for social media many still haven’t. All looking very dangerous due to lack of real info. But people do remember Iraq and Libya. I hope.

    • Robyn

      Just checked YouTube for the number of views of Tucker Carlson talking sense. Disappointing to report that, at just 111,461 views it’s not exactly viral.

      • frances

        re Tuckers video
        Youtube numbers are misleading, I have seen the view numbers particularly on 9/11 videos change, always downward.
        re what to do
        I have called Fox to thank them for Tucker’s show and stance on this war effort. I have also called the White House, the White House record line, my representatives and my senators.
        I will be calling local newspapers shortly.
        Not a march it’s true, but silence is not an option.

  • nevermind

    Can I just urge everyone to pen a letter/email to their MP’s and clearly state that, should they get a vote on military action, to vote against such reckless and futile undertaking with total disregard to any evidence.

    Whether it makes a difference or not, at least they know when a pressure wave followed by a fire storm and intense gamma radiation hit their caniving arses.

    • Ophelia Ball

      this will be an extremely quick way to ensure that any future application you may make for means-tested benefits, planning permission, parking appeals, election to public office, police assistance or any other public service will be denied or obstructed

      be a good little sheep, and pay your extra 5% Council Tax. You know it makes sense (and if you don’t, we do). you have been warned

    • Pyotr Grozny

      Ask them to come out now and state whether they are in favour of a vote.

      Ask them whether the standard of proof which applied in the Skripal case is all that is required to bomb Syria?

      • Paul Barbara

        @ Pyotr Grozny April 11, 2018 at 12:49
        That was all that was required for the Afghanistan invasion and occupation.

  • G.T. Wright.

    Perhaps it’s about time there was another world war.
    Our societies are being overrun and ruined be snowflake libtards, and anyone else who doesn’t like opinions which are different to their own.
    A damn good war could well sort everything right out for another 50 odd years, including belligerent religions, with the added advantage of a significant reduction in the planetary population.

    • Patrick Roden

      Oh I think if this leads to war, the very last thing anyone will need to worry about ever again, is over-population.

  • Manda

    “I am not a fan of Assad any more than I was a fan of Saddam Hussein.”

    I am no more of a fan of May regime than I was of Thatcher, Blair, Cameron/Clegg regimes and they collectively killed millions more than the recent western declared ghouls and monsters put together… our regimes have destroyed whole countries, societies and cultures to ensure no push back to looting could risk western and domestic collaborator plundering and financial ransom running rampant. That’s western free trade… free to take what you want and pay a fraction of the real cost and even profit from the destruction, killing and cynically profit from rebuilding what you destroy and from the suffering of oppressed populations deprived of state protection and public infrastructure and services.

    I don’t have patience for critiquing foreign regimes at this dangerous time, our duty is at home holding our own regimes to account because the propaganda media has deserted that obligation putting us all and the world at grave risk.

    • Emily

      I am no more of a fan of May regime than I was of Thatcher, Blair, Cameron/Clegg regimes and they collectively killed millions more than the recent western declared ghouls and monsters put together… our regimes have destroyed whole countries, societies and cultures to ensure no push back to looting

      Well put Manda.
      I agree.
      I have not voted for any of the lib/lab/con in years.
      And this isn’t the first time the USA/UK/NATO has bombed a nation ‘back to the stoneage’.on behalf of lies and islamic terror.
      Never forget Yugoslavia where good men did nothing and unleashed the same fire on Iraq, Libya and others.
      Yugoslavia where the West bombed and killed many christian Serbs, destroyed their country not least with DU – all on behalf of a pack of islamic terrorists – the KLA – the precursors of AlQaeda and ISIS.
      NATO has form.
      http://johnpilger.com/articles/provoking-nuclear-war-by-media

    • Robyn

      Agreed, Manda. When it comes to world leaders not to be a fan of, President Assad doesn’t even make my top ten.

  • Paul Wykes

    I disagree that there is no time for th public to organize opposition. Unfortunately the peace-movement is pretty much brain dead so there are no organizations who are willing/able to mobilize any protests.

    • nevermind

      Absolutely agree, Paul. We could all be starting to march down to London from all directions, with people being encouraged to join in as we go along.

      Or should we walk to Salisbury instead?, we could visit the site of the immaculate resurrection, Salisbury hospital, or maybe raise a shrine/cairn outside the novichoc antidote factory, Porton Down.

  • Dave G

    The Russians look to have been framed by a bunch of Islamic extremists in Douma and the US, UK, Israel, France and Saudi Arabia are all supporting that lie. How did the world get so dishonest and dangerous that obvious lies on hugely important issues of life and death go unchallenged?
    Time for politicians in the relevant countries to start asking better questions that they have been asking so far.

  • Elaine

    Please do not stop raising the important issues. We only have a handful of commentators speaking out against the tide of media propaganda on so many issues (of which you are an important one!). Know that there are many of us who support your view and that you give us a voice ???

  • Bill McLean

    I used to believe in UK unquestioningly – mind you I was partially raised in the colonies and attended military and naval schools abroad – so I have an excuse. About 30 years ago someone pointed me in a different direction with the advice to read more about Empire and the behaviour to so many different peoples who never invited the British to their lands. It took me until the invasion of Iraq to reach my current position of embarrassment at being taken in by; so called British democracy, pageantry, royalty, imperial hymns, Tories, the “white-knighting about anything British” and the belief in “British values”. I apologise to any non-British person that I may have damaged in any way by this false belief. I hope to God that one day these clowns and their feelings of exceptionalism will be brought to book.

  • Roman_D

    Trump’s recent tweets. Is he mad? Reiminded me of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde.

    Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!
    3:57 – 11 апр. 2018 г.

    4:37 – 11 апр. 2018 г.
    Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?

  • Republicofscotland

    With the Trump in fighting mode, it won’t be long now until Theresa May backs the US bombing of Syria.

    Executive action, from May to bypass parliament, will see Britain bomb Syria with Typhoon jets.

    • Paedo Hunter

      well, they may try to bomb but they have to stay in the air long enough to drop them

  • Clark

    Letter to my MP…

    Dear Kemi Badenoch,

    I wish to express my condemnation, in the strongest possible terms, of the UK military action against the Syrian government now being promoted by UK Prime Minister May and US President Trump. Similar previous actions have transformed Iraq and then Libya into lawless and ungovernable failed states, which then became breeding grounds for Al Qaeda and similar Wahhabist-inspired jihadist groups, directly increasing the threat of terrorism for UK citizens and provoking massive waves of immigration across the whole of Europe.

    UK involvement with the extremely costly military actions in the Middle East which I have listed have in no way benefited this country. Rather, they seem to support the objectives of the de-facto alliance between Saudi Arabia and Israel, the latter having occupied the Syrian Golan Heights for many decades, recently illegally issuing hydrocarbon extraction licenses in that region. I see from your voting record that you are a strong supporter of UK independence from the EU. I urge you equally to support UK independence from Saudi and Israeli territorial ambitions by opposing UK involvement in this proposed military action.

    Yours sincerely,
    Clark Killick

      • Dave G

        Thanks for the link. I’ve written to my MP to ask him to urge Theresa May to be cautious about getting involved in something that could easily get out of hand.

      • Pyotr Grozny

        I had a reply from my MP stating what he would do if there was a vote in Parliament, which wasn’t too bad. He didn’t say whether he was pressing for a vote before action or not so I have pressed him on that.

        We need to ask them to say where they stand, and to publicise that. If TM won’t recall Parliament we can do our own recall online. Is anyone able to set up a web page where all MP’s state their views. All MPs can be invited, those who won’t say can be seen not to say.

      • nevermind

        good to hear from you, Clark, I was half way through reading your excellent letter, when my Firefox lost his tail and threw me out, very likely due to my lack of updating my system.

        I have written to my local MP Richard Bacon, a few years back he was very much involved in the negotiations of the Iran nuclear deal, going back and forth to Iran, his work now being trodden on by the likes of that draft dodger Bolton and the rest of the chicken shit hawks who won’t be doing the fighting and dying, well, so they think.

        If they do not allow a vote in parliament I feel that this Government is toast. literally.

  • Quentin Poulsen

    If Trump launches cruise missiles on Syria for any reason it will be a war crime borne of arrogance, racism, hypocrisy and malice.

    Arrogance because nobody appointed the US world policeman, and surely the last nation they would wish to appoint is the one which has bombed scores of countries since WWII, killing millions and torturing untold more, while propping up brutal dictatorships all over the world. That would be akin to appointing Jack the Ripper head of your neighborhood watch group.

    Racist because the US is a white Christian-dominated super power and Syria is a relatively small Arab Muslim-dominated country. The US has now bombed an entire swathe of Islamic nations, while completely overlooking war crimes against Muslim populations in Palestine, Myanmar and the Central African Republic, for instance.

    Hypocrisy because the US itself has committed countless war crimes all around the world without ever once being held accountable. The 2003 invasion of Iraq is estimated to have led to 2.4 million deaths. The destruction of Libya was also based on lies, Wikileaks have revealed. But who’s in the Hague? Who’s going to launch a cruise missile at the US to ‘punish’ them?

    & malice because the only objective a missile strike on Syria could have is to kill and maim. What kind of a solution is that? Do we now live in a world where nations take it upon themselves to bomb each other as ‘punishment?’ Might makes right? White makes right? America is taking us back to the age of barbarity.

    • Michael McNulty

      I like to remind people the US tried to genocide red-skinned people, they enslaved black-skinned people, carpet-bombed yellow-skinned people and now slaughter brown-skinned people. White-skinned people might not escape them, either. Just look at the Russians.

  • Abulhaq

    For a country whose foundation stories involve systematized genocide, ethnic cleansing, institutional slavery and imperialism to jump astride the high horse of moral rectitude is milk curdling.
    That the same country also seems to lack a capacity for authentic self-criticism is a mark of how immature a ‘democracy’ the US is. America Firstism didn’t just begin with Trump.
    If you climb into America’s bed you’re liable to catch your death.

  • Joe

    Why the repeated “I’m not a fan of Assad”. No one expects you to be a fan of Assad, but there is absolutely no reason to not afford him and the Syrian people the support they deserve in their attempt to assert their right to be left alone to deal with their own issues! In that respect I AM a “fan” of Assad and the Syrian people.

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