I have never ruled out the possibility that Russia is responsible for the attack in Salisbury, amongst other possibilities. But I do rule out the possibility that Assad is dropping chemical weapons in Ghouta. In this extraordinary war, where Saudi-funded jihadist head choppers have Israeli air support and US and UK military “advisers”, every time the Syrian army is about to take complete control of a major jihadist enclave, at the last moment when victory is in their grasp, the Syrian Army allegedly attacks children with chemical weapons, for no military reason at all. We have been fed this narrative again and again and again.
We then face a propaganda onslaught from neo-con politicians, think tanks and “charities” urging a great rain of Western bombs and missiles, and are accused of callousness towards suffering children if we demur. This despite the certain knowledge that Western military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya have had consequences which remain to this day utterly disastrous.
I fear that the massive orchestration of Russophobia over the last two years is intended to prepare public opinion for a wider military conflict centred on the Middle East, but likely to spread, and that we are approaching that endgame. The dislocation of the political and media class from the general population is such, that the levers for people of goodwill to prevent this are, as with Iraq, extremely few as politicians quake in the face of media jingoism. These feel like extremely dangerous times.
The irony is that Russia and Syria are two countries that have not only renounced thier chemical weapons and agreed to OPCW dismantling their armoury and being certified by this organisation are the ones accused of being accused of using them. Similarly serious sanctions are being applied to Iran with no evidence of intention to develop these weapons. Meanwhile not far to the south of Syria another nation is known not only to have atomic weapons but also chemical weapons but are exempt from any inspections or sanctions. Also remember what happened to Libya when they renounced their programme of WMD? These actions only endorse the actions of NK in their developing nuclear weapons as the only insurance for survival.
That why Russia refuses to allow in independent inspectors!
You aren proven wrong today.
“At the security council session, the US proposed a resolution demanding a return to an independent UN mechanism to investigate chemical weapons attacks in Syria, along the lines of an earlier investigative panel that Russia dissolved by vetoing its continued work in November. “
But surely you realise that the Russians were the first to insist the OPCW go to Douma?
https://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2018/9-april-the-russian-delegate-i-invite-the-opcw-investigators
Syria is signed up to the CWC, therefore it is the OPCW who makes the inspection
Why lie over something so easily refuted?
Russia and Syriaare calling for an OPCW inspection to be carried out “immediately” (tomorrow, i.e. today) on site, promising “unlimited cooperation” and guaranteeing security.
The US and the other nations of the Free World, on the other hand, are insisting on a revival of the “Joint Investigative Mechanism” which expired in November 2017. The JIM rejects on-site inspection in favour of remote investigations with samples and other evidence provided by unidentified 3rd parties of unimpeachable reputation (notably the White Helmets).
Have I missed something?
Yes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPCW-UN_Joint_Investigative_Mechanism
That was a set up by the US
They insisted on voting for the continuation of the JIM mandate before hearing their report into KS
The Russian wanted to hear the report first presumably because they knew it would be a stitch up not worth the used toilet roll it was smeared on
The US refused and so Russia vetoed
At least thats how I remember it
I think little will be achieved by military action against Syria – instead I would immediately suspend the listing of all Russian shares on Western stock exchanges until there is a full independent inspection.
Seeing the value of his Gazprom shares dwindle to nothing is the sort of price that Putin will understand.
The fundamentals of the companies assets will overcome any of what you suggest. China and the other 70-80% of the world will have no problems investing in the biggest energy producer/supplier in the world.
Yes – but those who have already invested will be holding worthless bits of paper.
That old bullshit again
RD , you really are an obsessive ,its getting pretty damn boring, and its grotesque
Give it a rest and have a little lie down
I win.
I think you are referring to fact that it mean something to have value on western stock exchanges. Currently USD has been supplemented to RMB for oil trade and oil is being started to trade in other currencies then Euro and USD. It means that if trade is being stop between Russia and western countries, same oil fields will still be in Russia and trade will continue, maybe not with west but it will. By definition Gazprom will be worth something despite what is written in western stock markets. Actually, this could be a reason for US to enter this war. Also, you forget the fact that we actually need energy.
Also, I can see the US would like to stop energy trade between Germany and Russia and Europe in general, but I don’t see it coming. I assume also Germans understand that this false accusation could lead to nuclear exchange. I am not seeing there will be real support from European countries when there will be real war coming with country like Russia.
It doesn’t matter wether the Germans “understand” the US engergy policy of cutting out Russia from the European energy market. What matters is how corrupt and how weak they are. Unfortunately the current Merkel government is very weak and very corrupt. They will do as the US tells them to. Don’t forget that when Britain/Theresa May accused Russia of poisoning the Skripals the German Government did expel Russian diplomats, too, although Theresa May’s reasoning is highly doubtful and so far there is no real evidence. German politicians were bending and twisting themselves to justify this move, “set a sign”, “send a message even when there is no evidence” etc.
A good indicator of what the Merkel government will do are big German newspapers who do usually demand whatever the USA demands and then the Merkel government will do as has been demanded.
Angela Merkel and her government are highly obediend creatures of the US government / transatlantic think tanks.
So why do you think that Putin and the other Russian oligarchs went to all the bother and expense of getting their ill gotten gains listed on Western Stock exchanges? I think you will find that they are more interested in keeping their hand on their value in this way – rather than some other disruptive mechanism – somehow I don’t think the equally corrupt Chinese kleptocrats will be too interested in buying Gazprom shares when there are a lot of suspended ADRs floating around. Also without the tax revenues from oil and other resources I suspect that Putin’s popularity might be somewhat transitory.
German Girl
If the current German govt is very corrupt – what does that make the Putin regime?
if there will be nuclear exchange you think oligarch will care about money?
Yeah, breaking up the current financial system is a really good idea, isn’t it? The Yanks exploit their control of the financial system for their militaristic aims mercilessly. Necessarily people will more and more go round the Americans, rather than depend on them.
Yes Laguerre, let’s hope they do. Resident Dissident I think you need to really really do some genuine research on this – I am afraid to say you are talking out of your backside – your comments show very little understanding of anything in the world really. The fact is, there is a shifting change in the balance of world power and it’s away from the USA towards China. The Dollar is starting to lose currency in oil negotiations with China now using the petroyuan from this month and Russia to follow suit very shortly. China currently hold several trillion dollars of USA debt so are in a very powerful position to withstand any USA Trade sanctions and tariffs. The USA economy relies heavily on the petro dollar, trillions of dollars of income from its arms industry and war basically. The USA home economy is not strong. A few years ago the old greenback was in really serious difficulty and the EU bailed them out twice. If petrol trading is moving away from the dollar – bang goes a lot of the USA’s income and influence on the world stage. Their LPN gas is three times more expensive than that piped by Russia. Syria is blocking the USA access to a neighbouring country for the USA to run their pipeline through there. You are very very naive, Resident Dissident and probably I would guess a brown-nosing friend of that Buffoon Johnson.
Yes when all else fails resort to being condescending and abusive. I’m no friend of Johnson either. Yes economic power may be shifting – but that is something that has been going on for years and I’m afraid the dramatic collapse of the US economy is the stuff of you and your friend’s wet dreams. The rouble on the other hand is doing really well at the moment.
Those friends of Trump and Putin who know in twelve months this will be forgotten and they will be walking arm in arm again will buy while prices are low then make a fortune.
You cannot buy when the shares are suspended.
They won’t be suspended in Russia and probably not in China.
Look up how depository receipts work.
There is the small matter of Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.
And Putin’s dependence on the revenues.
And the fact that Russia’s gas is cheapest to extract and cheapest to buy.Germany needs it to fuel its manufacturing, and it needs it at that price, not the ridiculously expensive US fracked liquid gas, which has to be shipped over.
That action won’t go down well, British savers have more than £11.2billion tied up in Russia firms spread out over more than 320 investment funds, according to data firm FE Trustnet. And some popular UK funds have big stakes in the country.
The £1billion Schroder Emerging Europe fund, for example, invests more than half of its cash in Russia, according to FE Trustnet, Blackrock’s £919million Emerging Europe fund invests nearly £490million, while £279million of the £8billion Vanguard Emerging Markets fund is invested there.
The devil is in the detail. The Russians have said that they want a truly independent inspection. The last OPCW inspection, carried out through the White helmets was not impartial nor verifiable as there was no chain of custody.
Yes but this time the white Helmets won’t be the custodians of evidence
Douma is now clear of terrorists and the OPCW is safe to make an inspection
OPCW repeatedly refused to send inspectors to investigate the Khan Shaykhun “chemical attack” in 2017, and made numerous other missteps in their evaluation of the incident. Nevertheless, OPCW didn’t hesitate to put the blame on Syrian Government, and the USA used it as a pretext to attack Syria by bombing the Shairat Airbase. Here’s a detailed look at this glaring example of complicity in U.S. provocations:
https://www.opcw.org/news/article/opcw-fact-finding-mission-confirms-use-of-chemical-weapons-in-khan-shaykhun-on-4-april-2017/
OPCW, and its joint mechanism with the UN (JIM) have regrettably proven to be biased and compromised.
They haven’t refused to allow independent inspectors – quite the opposite – they have asked for them.
@Resident Dissident, what do you mean? Russia insists to bring inspectors, today. Please watch Emergency UN security council Meeting April 9, 2018. More, Syria said they had sent 145 letters to OPCW reporting of CW found during the conflict, they are left ananswered.
So Russia will not veto the draft resolution?
there’s Russian resolution draft, there were already consultations on it, Nebenzia said directly – we are ready to sign it.
USA reported to bring hastily theirs own draft just before the meeting. I suppose there will be long consultations on wordings and applicable laws. As soon as they agree on the text, there will be established a special institution to deal with CW cases.
——
It doesn’t change the fact, that OPCW NOW AS IT IS really doesn’t need any letters or invitations to visit the place of supposed ChemAttack. OK, Syria and Russia urged the inspectors to visit as soon as possible and assured they provide safety for inspectors.
BTW, why didn’t OPCW jump into Salisbury case?
There is already a perfectly sound basis for the inspections in Syria to be carried out that was agreed by a UN resolution. I’m afraid that supporters and backers of the accused party do not normally get to call how investigations should be carried out – at least not where there is proper segregation of the executive and judiciary (not something that the Putin regime is in a position to give lectures I’m afraid).
are two countries that have not only renounced thier chemical weapons and agreed to OPCW dismantling their armoury
So apparently did Libya.
Its a death sentence.
Except Russia isn’t exactly defenceless. It’s a superpower that can remove the US from the face of the Earth within 30 minutes. Something that makes the American fascist regime with their “full spectrum dominance” ambitions up at night and even considering a “first strike” opportunity.
Until Putins announcement of Russia’s cutting edge weaponry that is. Now they are really really desperate….
Until Putin’s announcement of Russia’s cutting edge weaponry that is. Now they are really really desperate….
Russia the Hope of the World.
Edgar Cayce – famous US psychic.
Certainly that is one prediction becoming blatantly true to any of us who value liberty, democracy and peace.
Thank goodness for Russian scientists and technology.
Begins to look like Russia stands between us and and the planned global 99% serfdom, not to mention nuclear war should the neo cons and neo libs get thwarted..
You are so right…..The proxy war in Syria that has its roots drenched with CIA paid antagonists. Countless times, countries where there leaders have refused to bend to the will of the US and other western powers have been brought down with civil unrest and mainstream media finger pointing. The sheeple who believe the rhetoric sit back and accept the deception, then call for action and get swept up in their excitement to see justice. Voices of reason are ignored, and the favoured boogeyman lined up for special attention.
Why do people believe such lies? The flimsy evidence put forward by the politicians and pundits are greeted by the mob as obvious reasons to perpetuate the spiral of grief that only war can bring. If that evidence was used in a Court by the prosecution to prove their case it would be laughed at, yet its always enough to lay blame at the feet of those who refuse to kowtow and submit.
Nothing Left to say.
http://letthemconfectsweeterlies.blogspot.se/2017/01/why-are-we-here-essay-provoked-by-golem.html
The most profound thing I think I have ever read is a short question posed in Neal Donald Walsh’s, Conversations with God. ´´What would love do now?´´.
p.130 http://www.poeticmind.co.uk/creative-thoughts/lessons-from-conversations-with-god-book-1-neale-donald-walsch-part-3/
At all breaking points in life there is one question to ask: what would love do now?
Love is not to retain the best of the other – but the best of your self.
Fascinating reading with the unfortunate ring of truth. I think Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria are a resource and land grab to protect the existing superpower as it desperately tries to stop its economic eclipse by China.
read this from the Washington Post and weep: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2018/03/30/in-syria-we-took-the-oil-now-trump-wants-to-give-it-to-iran/?utm_term=.6673e30c7b3a
“There are a lot of good arguments for maintaining an American presence in Syria after the fall of the Islamic State, but President Trump doesn’t seem persuaded by any of them. Perhaps he would back off his urge to cut and run if he knew that the United States and its partners control almost all of the oil. And if the United States leaves, that oil will likely fall into the hands of Iran.”
Whose oil is it again? How damned stupid of Assad to locate his sh1thole country right on top of OUR oil
BREAKING NEWS – JULIA SKRIPAL HAS APPARENTLY JUST BEEN DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL (probably disguised as a Nun, and renamed Rupert)
Obviously the voice of the American Military Industrial Complex — not of Americans.
Iran’s proven oil reserves are 150 billion barrels, while Syria’s are 2.5 billion barrels. Iran al no’s has lower production costs. Russian oil reserves estimates range between 80 and 120 billion barrels. There is absolutely no point for either of these countries fighting for oil. This is complete bovine excrement.
Julia Skripal discharged to a safe house
Yulia
‘The 33-year-old was discharged from Salisbury District Hospital on Monday and taken to a secure location.’
Not to the 3* motel at Porton Down we hope.
It’s on the BBC website so it must be true!
The news channels are in orgasmic mode.
‘For nearly a month both were in a critical condition in Salisbury District Hospital, but they have recently made a remarkable recovery.’
https://news.sky.com/story/exclusive-yulia-skripal-being-discharged-from-hospital-11324793
‘Remarkable indeed’ It never happened….. Pinter.
Looks like she is being imprisoned, instead of being isolated in a hospital.
OFFS …
Dr Christine Blanshard and I’m the Medical Director here at Salisbury District Hospital
“…While I won’t go into great detail … nerve agents work … results in symptoms such as sickness, hallucinations and confusion….”
https://www.england.nhs.uk/south/2018/04/10/updates-on-the-salisbury-incident-7/
What is this about then[anybody]?https://off-guardian.org/2018/03/21/what-did-the-salisbury-physician-mean-by-no-patients-have-experienced-symptoms-of-nerve-agent-poisoning/
What we can call a “Trevor Rees Jones” job then.
(He survived the Princess Diana car crash in 1997 and was said to have “lost his memory” and in some early reporting also literally to have lost his tongue.)
This medic (like most medics, Blanshard isn’t a doctor because she has no doctorate) is saying that some of what Yulia Skripal may say, if she gets a chance to let anyone other than her debriefers hear it, may be fantastical. Nobody in Blanshard’s position will ever baulk at anything they’re told to do for “national security”.
Apparently Tucker Carlson on Fox News is questioning the whole gassing narrative.
Worth a watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M28aYkLRlm0
Thanks Keith.
A must watch, cheers
Only a libertarian ( Carlson Tucker) standing up in public with Craig. Funny old world. I’m not sympathetic to Trump, but you know people used to make jokes about how Melania needed rescuing I reckon it’s Trump’s, who needs rescuing. He is so compromised he has got himself in a right old pickle and far adrift from his libertarian supporters. I wonder if he will watch Tucker Carlson and reflect on something more than his reputation (for want of a better word), reflect on what it is he might really believe or consult his long lost friend his conscience?
Brilliant – thanks Keith.
Do watch.
The Tucker Carlson segment on Fox News weekdays is the highest-rated news/opinion show on US television by a wide margin. He is a highly literate libertarian conservative (therefore in the Reagan/Trump fold) and he speaks to the manual working class ‘deplorables’ of the fly-over States who had the sheer bad taste not to vote for the war-mongering HC (because the Ruskies told them not to, right?).
As well as the daily shows, he does the odd guest-speaker gig: this one (like Reagan’s 1964 ‘A Time For Choosing’ speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXBswFfh6AY) gives an insight into the reasons for Trump’s popularity – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2dct9ErA_g.
Brilliant piece, thanks for posting.
The sure sign of U.K. regime cynicism is that John Humphries on behalf of the state broadcaster is taking advice from the supreme mass murderer Blair how to act in Syria.
He won’t like you spelling his name wrong. It’s Humphrys btw. He is overpaid by the licence fee payers.
‘In a BBC pay disclosure last year Humphrys was listed as having a salary of between £600,000 and £649,999, making him the BBC’s highest-paid news presenter.’
‘Radio presenter John Humphrys’ controversial off-air comments about the equal pay row at the BBC, which he has defended as “jokey”, can be heard in a leaked recording.
The broadcasting veteran is heard to say he could hand over more than the entire salary of his colleague North America editor Jon Sopel, and still be “left with more than anybody else”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/14/recording-john-humphrys-jokey-off-air-equal-pay-comments-leaked/
What an arrogant b*****d.
For a moment I thought you meant Bliar
He should remember that there is a precedent for considering the publication of propaganda for mass murder to be a crime against humanity. Julius Streicher was convicted of precisely that at Nuremburg.
The Nuremberg trials were absolutely essential and important. But unfortunately they were merely broadcasted legal show wrestling. Too many Nazis got away and continued to serve in various governments (both in Ger, USA) or in various public offices.
The media is neutered and gagged and handcuffed and foot-cuffed (again) and they do willingly publish whatever their masters would like them to publish. Btw. both Hitler as well as todays powers behind the governments do know what they need the media for: making the masses accept wars for profit and resources and making the masses accept pay cuts and less and less solidarity.
Assad is capable of using chemical weapons against adversaries, partly because the Russians will back him up whatever he does, just as the Americans back the Israelis.
Capable maybe, but not stupid.
If there had been any military advantage to killing civilians I’m sure he would have, but there wasn’t, and he wouldn’t.
You have to ask “Cui bono?” And in this case it certainly isn’t Assad.
Look instead to the enemies of Assad – you have a much wider choice, so I guess that is why the manichean useful idiots pick the ‘obvious’.
Turkey wants some parts of Syria for incorporating it into Turkish territory. So far they seem to have gotten Afrin along with a nice lake (Maydanki lake).
Russia has some minor interests there (front yard twice removed, oil pipelines, not allowing US to come too close), same as USA (oil piplelines, wanting to encircle Russia).
Several islamist groups want to expand their territory and their stone-age islamism along with access to the Mediterranean Sea.
The EU is worried that the wars might spread or continue. They are equally worried the US might stay in Syria and the Russians might stay in Syria and Turkey might stay in Syria.
Israel would like Syria to be gone or at least grab some of Syria’s territory. Same as Saudi Arabia but they want it gone because it is not strict enough religiously.
“Assad is capable of using chemical weapons against adversaries,”
Theoretically possible, but there’s no interest, no reason for him to do so. But the Jihadis, they desperately need it.
Laguerre, the problem is, Syria doesn’t have any chemical weapons as verified by the OPCW same for Russia. Israel are more than capable of using chemical weapons on foreign countries and are the only country that has used them in an assassination attempt. Note, response to that wasn’t the same as the UK Government’s over Skripal.
…and Israel can perform a bombing run killing civilians by launching their missiles in airspace that belongs to another state; the
quintessential deception and reasoning marker for the chemical events in Syria and Britain backed by America.
MJ – problem there – they don’t have any chemical weapons as OPCW confirmed they had all been destroyed
Strawman. Nobody here says he isn’t.
I agree that Assad is capable of that, as is the poshboy regime in Britain which has not only developed and produced chemical weapons but has sold them to many countries. Assad obviously did not carry out the recent alleged chemical attack though, because he had no motive.
Blair-miles suggests that we should have an illegal war in Syria, live on the wireless, now.
How much is he worth today?
Who gave it to him?
Humphries suggests that Blair is ‘toxic’. Yes more lethal than novichok
A bit like turning to the architects of the GFC for advice on running the US economy . . . oh wait, that is what Barack and Donald actually did!
More evidence that our masters have learned the lessons.
What else would you expect? Blair has spent a decade as an agent of Israel. It was entirely predictable.
“Who gave it to him?” Have a look at some of the connections of Blair’s lawyers at Berwin Leighton Paisner.
Did the demise of the League of Nations not precede WW2? Is the UN about to implode.
I have written to the UN weekly for the last 7 years regarding the british government’s abuse of disabled people in britain – I have never, once, had a reply – the UN is the most corrupt organisation of the lot
I was hoping that we could share our thoughts and doubts in a creative way by writing a collective satirical ballad about this whole bizarre affair, so here’s my sorry little “verse” to start things rolling.
Their complicated plan for overthrowing Assad
had come to naught, which made them sad
But nasty Trump and clever Mistress May
together had a great idea one day
to stage a farce near old Stonehenge
to slake their unholy lust for revenge
they framed the narrative
got the papers to parrot it
Eventually if more people contribute we can create something interesting?
I don’t know if this video is on this thread somewhere but thought it poignant to share now. Craig, as ever, you articulate what many of us are thinking. Thank-you. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g1VNQGsiP8M
As usual, Craig’s belief in the establishment shines through with his belief that politicians are quaking in the face of media jingoism. Those politicians have a platform to stand up and tell the truth but I suspect too many of them are so mired in the military industrial complex that their greedy, psychopathic tendencies will come to the fore as always. Labour politicians are generally better at hiding their corruption by being linked merely to PR firms whose clients profit from war and disruption.
Given that Nikki Haley has openly said that the UN means nothing in US eyes, is it not time to:
1) Relocate the UN away from New York to a neutral country like Austria, Switzerland or even to somewhere outside Europe/NAFTA?
2) Reconstitute the newly relocated UN to exclude the USA from membership?
3) Failing that, to reconstitute the Security Council to exclude the USA?
4) Give fair warning to Israel that it too will be expelled if it does not conform to numerous UN resolutions concerning Palestine.
5) Require as terms of membership for all members to join OPCW and be declared free of chemical weapons for warfare by OPCW inspectors.
6) Require all members to submit full details of all nuclear weapons to the UN Weapons Inspectorate and accept that failure to do is an expulsion offence.
No killing, no grandstanding, just conferring on the USA the status of pariah nation and the potential to do the same for Israel.
If the world wishes to break free of the US, the UN must not be primarily funded by the the US. It must not be located in the US and it must not tolerate any nonsense from the US.
Must it?
Next step after that should be the discombobulation of the IMF and the World Bank, both also located in the US. Mass resignations, affiliations to new organisations located in Rabat (IMF successor) and Mumbai (World Bank successor).
No violence there either. Just withdrawal of consent and redeployment of resources elsewhere.
How many US diplomats should be sent home immediately upon going to war in Syria? 5000 is a conservative estimate….
Should assets of every US oil and gas company be frozen? Why not?? Teach them to behave….
Should visa be refused to every American attempting to travel anywhere? What a good idea….
No violence, just telling the USA to go to hell.
And hoping that they look forward to the trip……
I don’t know that the UN would survive leaving New York. It was always the old rule that the Allies at the end of WW2 agreed to the UN going to New York in order to keep the US on board (not the case with the League of Nations). Probably still true, but the result is that the US has weaponised the UN in its own interests (which obviously means also the interests of Israel). If the UN went to Geneva, the US would probably pull out altogether. So which is best?
Better to move the UN to Jerusalem, a truly international city, about which its many deliberations could more readily be effected….
Rhys, if only……………. it would require courage on the part of world governments so it will never happen – but what a great idea – someone has to tell the USA where to go
All good ideas cost money Rhys, at present countries are unable to pay UN functions, not to speak of their very own contributions. And the OPCW is not itself since Bustani was fired, they are Kowtowing to the arm twisters.
The UN is in a bad state because the US has withheld funding for decades, it had billions legacy of unpaid contributions and used it as a lever, whether that is still the case I have no idea.
Solid piece of thinking Rhys.
Dear Sir,
Posted with thanks at
https://nowarnonato.blogspot.pt/2018/04/craig-murray-rush-to-war.html
https://paulcraigrobertstranslations.blogspot.pt/2018/04/craig-murray-rush-to-war.html
http://gffreepages.blogspot.pt/2018/04/craig-murray-rush-to-war.html
https://newfreepages.blogspot.pt/2018/04/craig-murray-rush-to-war.html
Twitter
Google+
Respectfully,
luisa
Extremely dangerous times indeed and not one of our politicians currently in power has any idea what Syria would look like without Assad, with millions of his supporters facing the carve up of Syria by Israel Saudi Arabia and Turkey, all they can do is bay for war.
No thoughts are being given to any of today’s major problems facing us all, no will to tackle climate change, the massive pollution of our seas, or the socio political manifestations of having no future, no work, little opportunities, food or shelter.
Then there is a massive problem with safeguarding children, especially here in Norfolk were online grooming is being hushed up, becoming endemic.
Why is nobody advancing a vote of no confidence in this scrupulous Government, we are being hung out to dry, whether its Brexit, the nerve gas theatre, what we are doing in Syria and not doing in Gaza, or the genetically engrained Russophobia leading to paranoid actions.
I have no confidence in the representatives that are currently inhabiting the UN, its now a body that throws insults.
Next stage is talk about first strike and then there will be no more bills to be paid, no more gardens to be tended, no more children to be picked up from school, no more holidays to be enjoyed, no more love to be lavished.
Is this really a fitting end for a species that calls itself intelligent? that is unable to control its cancer like impact on the planet?
I’m changing my name to Marvin
Have you got the old Tornados screaming overhead Nevermind? Or are they all on station in the ME somewhere.
Mr Murdoch’s Times is going large on War! War! today. I can see two articles a week for free behind the paywall and have copied them on this link.
http://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/thread/1523346380.html
His news channel, Sky News, had Stig Abell and Jenny Kleeman ‘reviewing the papers’ last night with Ms Botting i/c. I understand that they were obsessed with the prospect of war on Syria.
Kleeman retweeted Abell who had posted the revolting Express front page of a baby wearing a respirator. I enquired on TLN whether the prospect of her own four month old baby being incinerated by a Paveway missile has ever crossed Kleeman’s mind.
http://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/thread/1523327532.html
.
Nevermind our salvation will only come through the eradication of political parties all political parties and politicians,only those proven in their particular field and proven morally/ethically should be elected to run the country,in other words the “Common Weal”,wouldn,t that be a true democracy.
Thanks Sharp ears and John Young. Political parties thrive on divisions, they need them to look different and get elected. I tend to agree and the only place were they have banned politicians, police and any authority but themselves is Cheran in Mexico, afaik. They dispensed with political divisions and run themselves and their own security.
Like in so many cases it was women who started it by driving out illegal loggers, then they fired the mayor, the police and they banned politicians.
If the locals are together, anything can work
https://www.ecologise.in/2018/04/08/cheran-mexico-the-town-that-said-no/
Very sobering article Craig. I think the majority of us are in total agreement with you on this one. However, the USA is a rogue nation under Trump and will do something that will have far-reaching consequences. These are very dangerous times indeed and, unlike the Cuban Missile Crisis where we had two Heads of States who communicated with each other to ultimately avert the crisis, we don’t have that in this case especially under Trump who will shoot first and who has been dying to invade Syria.
Seconded.
We are nearer to war than at anytime since 1945.
And it won’t be a video game as the warmongers are presenting it to the stupid.
It will be global annihilation or US hegemony and planetary near slavery at the point of a missile.
Britain will be glass.
And only the Russians are trying to avert this programme and the potential death of billions
Beam me up Scotty. Planet Earth looks Beautiful but it is infested with Vermin. Have we got any Domestos on Board?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/
“But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.”
“Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.”
“But the plans were on display …”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of Con Coughlin’ I have never seen anything so ugly”
Available from 1 penny
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Douglas-Adams/dp/0330508539
Tony
Job done anyway, the ancient and proud land that was Syria is all but destroyed, rubble, very many, hundreds of thousands of the people dead, disabled, maimed and disfigured, dispersed and traumatised for what’s left of their lives; agriculture, industry, healthcare, education, set back decades, the rich agricultural region and mineral resources of the Golan still occupied by the aggressor mass-murdering religious nutjobs squatting next-door in Palestine still shrilly fantasising delusionally about their own alleged ‘victimhood’.
Who’s next?
Could somebody with expertise on this matter enlighten me in this point of international law? Yulia Skripal is a Russian citizen. She has been held by a country that has professed antagonism to her country. There may be a perception, by her ‘captors’ that she is under threat and therefore needs protection. Shouldn’t there be some mechanism in international law whereby her opinion and interests are expressed by a neutral representation? Otherwise any country can imprison citizens from another country, hold them incommunicado and do with them what they like.
it’s a question of ‘locus standi’ – who has legal status to represent her
on the one hand, the UK appears to believe that the Russian embassy has no legal right to Consular access (which would normally be granted even without Yulia’s consent). However, the argument is that the UK is not bound by the 1968 Vienna Convention
in terms of “habeas corpus”, nobody is currently in a position to definitively state that she is being detained against her will – she is recuperating from a medical crisis and the hospital Trust is acting ‘in her best interests’. Again, who can prove that they aren’t?
And finally, poor old cousin Viktoria – without a visa to enter the country or proof that Yulia is either detained or not able to make her own decisions, as a cousin it is unclear whether she could mount a legal action in absentia
In brief, therefore, the UK holds all the cards, and the total opacity around the investigation of what is still first and foremost a criminal matter suggests that the Government is playing fast & loose with the law – if not perhaps also with the Legal system insofar as it appears able to manipulate both the Police and the Courts
Why is this all so secret? Why has Yulia not been seen even on camera? Why has her access to the outside world been so tightly controlled. And why – in the absence of a request for political asylum – is her healthcare, security and new identity being funded by the UK taxpayer, when one of the conditions of her own visitor Visa is almost certainly that she has “no recourse to public funds”?
This stinks to high heaven
Even WW2 shot-down aviators, naval or submarine crews and soldiers from both sides were given access to Red Cross.
Rod, I have personally found The Red Cross, very helpful and useful, at a time of crisis, at very short notice. I think it is largely staffed by volunteers – people who care, and who do it because they want to help. They don’t get paid to do what they do. They have a higher motive. Tony
Agree. The story of the Skripals has had an air of unreality from the very beginning. Just to take one example, it seems incredible that since her recovery and release no new and useful information about what happened to Yulia and her father has been uncovered. And the press don’t ask any questions. Faced with one of the biggest stories in several years they do absolutely nothing. It’s too odd.
That’s the reality! Ultimately, it is not law but power politics that prevails in awkward situations. International law is only enforceable at the barrel of a gun when goodwill has gone.
In answer to you and Ophelia. Firstly, Yulia has now been discharged so theoretically can board a plane and go back to Moscow. Secondly it really is not just international law but even British Law, or has that now been subsumed by the states wishes? If so then we are no longer abiding by the rule of law and no one is safe from the state. But I had concluded that anyway already.
what he said
we are exceptional, we call for international law to be followed but have no intention of following it ourselves, perfidious albion
I object.
Howling at war is a farce of both sides
(german)
In this piece I argue, Trump quite obviously mulls a targeted drone-attack on a carefully selected Syrian target, started off Cyprus in order to avoid Moscows threat against missile tenders. I cite my speculation about the background (revised deepl-translation):
The British government got itself in deep trouble with the Skripal affair. I’ve just read that Julia Skripal has been officially detained. Yesterday evening I tortured myself following the UNSC meeting. Despite all his rhetorical acrimony, Vassily Nebenzia has reacted noticeably dull to the announced official elimination of the main witnesses. It’s an impression, okay, but it seems to me the Kremlin has accepted this “solution. This is also indicated by the fact that the British UN envoy, in sharp contrast to previous meetings, held back significantly – in stark contrast to the French representative.
In short, I think all parties wanting to save the current UK government. It is in nobody’s interest to deepen the rifts within the EU. In particular it became clear last month, Brexit wouldn’t be in Moscow’s longer term interest, if there would be a “long term”. Better keep the chande of integrating the UK into a Europe in which Central European interests can’t be spelled predominantly “British”, have to take account of German interests within the EU.
Speculation, certainly – but up to the hour I have nothing better.
“chance”, of course, sorry.
“Trump quite obviously mulls a targeted drone-attack on a carefully selected Syrian target, started off Cyprus in order to avoid Moscows threat against missile tenders.”
The British media is saying this morning that last year’s 59 Tomahawks was a small ineffective act, the implication being that Trump’s “decision” will have to be ratcheted up from that. I suppose the US has a plan already worked out, I hope so, certainly the Russians have theirs well-prepared. The US lashing out unprepared could be catastrophic.
“The US lashing out unprepared could be catastrophic.”
Did you seriously write that?
“I fear that the massive orchestration of Russophobia over the last two years is intended to prepare public opinion for a wider military conflict centred on the Middle East, but likely to spread, and that we are approaching that endgame.”
The funny thing is, of course, that Obama told us that the US wanted to pivot to Asia, and I’m sure Trump would like to do the same, but they’re still stuck in the ME. Guess why.
Could it be possible that Bibi is pulling Trumps todger? Or is he Washington’s useful idiot when it comes to goading the Russians into war?
When will the corrupt leader be dragged to court? Or is he able to declare war and stay in power, the get out clause for a murderous scoundrel?
All too true I’m afraid.
Feels like 2003 and the run-up to Iraq all over again.
Not quite. This is instant violence, not a year or more’s preparation.
Laguerre
This is not instant violence. It has long been in preparation ever since Putin came to power. It is just that now all the balls are lined up.
Instant violence in the sense that Trump will want instant gratification, not ongoing war. Trump is different from Clinton – she is a real representative of the Deep State; Trump is not. Even Bolton can’t convince him of the pleasures of spending the rest of his life in a nuclear bunker.
More like 1914.
Mr Murray, your second-to-last sentence is very apt, unfortunately.
Five quick points.
1) Donald Trump’s recent near-promise to withdraw from Syria is likely to have been a deception.
2) It reminds me of the Ukrainian government’s declaration late in 2013 that it would ally itself economically with Russia, a position that it rapidly reversed within about a day.
3) The idea of “irritation” between Trump and the top US military brass may also be a deception.
4) The raids on Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen suggest that Trump is deliberately being kept on a knife edge so that he knows that if he baulks at a single order he is given he will be out of office (and probably into prison) faster than he can reach for his mobile phone to send a tweet saying how great he is. Stormy Daniels is playing the role of Monica Lewinsky.
5) Please go to the main page for the Google search engine and look at the image they are showing. Supposedly to commemorate what would have been Arab actor Omar Sharif’s 86th birthday were he still alive (he died in 2015), they are showing the face of an Arab man first first in normal light and then with a very dark shadow crossing it in a way that makes him look, contrary to initial appearance, evil. The day goes on, and he appears in his true colours. If somebody made an image like that of, say, Menachem Begin or Benyamin Netanyahu, it is a certainty that they would be called anti-Semitic. This image is being imprinted, today, on probably hundreds of millions if not billions of minds.
It is pathetic that those who run Al Jazeera appear not to understand what is going on with that image published by Google. Under the headline “Omar Sharif: Why Google honours him today”, they simply give a list of biographical details. Perhaps unsurprisingly for an outfit based in Qatar (the family company-state run by the criminals who bailed out Barclays Bank and who may also bail out Jared Kushner), they describe Sharif as “hailed by many as ‘The Noble’.”
Did you read Chris Hedges’ piece on TruthDig yesterday?
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-campaign-to-exterminate-muslims/
“1) Donald Trump’s recent near-promise to withdraw from Syria is likely to have been a deception.”
I think trump is trying to be unpredictable, like Putin. The way he understands it.
I have a feeling that if the US attacks Syria, Russia will invade Ukraine.
Russia has stated what they will do after the strike. If the US strike injures or kills Russian military, the Russian military will take out whatever platform was used to carry out the strike. Currently the USS Donald Cook, armed with 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles, is stationed south of Cyrpus about 100 km away from Tartus. Russian military aircraft are harassing it to make sure it knows what will happen if they do kill Russians. If the USS Donald Cook is struck or sunk, then what? Who knows?
What is interesting is the strength of criticism to be found out there.
Ron Paul has given a devastating and coruscating analysis to RT. His words should be broadcast the world over, not least for their polite and correct usage of the English language whilst firing a fusillade of coruscating criticism toward the whole US Deep State operation.
Vassili Nebenzia has given Nikki Haley a Head’s Detention in front of the world diplomatic caucus. A more clinical discombobulation of a nation’s foreign policy would be hard to find. The expression ‘we have no particular wish to be friends with you’ was a classic of its kind, particularly with the sting in the tail ing: ‘we want normal civilised relations, which you arrogantly refuse, discarding basic courtesy’. The grown up way to call the class’ queen bee bitch a fat ugly cunt in the school playground….disregarding the indubitable fact that she is not fat, of course….
The African delegate calling for Boris Johnson and Russia to ‘set an example of diplomacy’ was merely an opening shot over the bows of UKUSS Titanic.
The real war of words is now on in earnest.
Even now, RT states that the sole item on the agenda of US-Russian relations is the prevention of war. Something to be taken with a pinch of salt, but it is on the record at least.
I have barely seen that on the agenda of the USA in my lifetime….and Jimmy Carter, the most decent man to become President in my lifetime, is roundly condemned by the media as a joke……
Hardly something to admire, is it?
Rhys Jagger – are you Welsh? I had never come across the word before. coruscating
ˈkɒrəskeɪtɪŋ/
adjective
adjective: coruscating
flashing; sparkling.
“a coruscating kaleidoscope of colours”
synonyms: sparkling, shining, bright, brilliant, gleaming, glittering, twinkling, scintillating, flashing, shimmering, shimmery; rarescintillant
“a coruscating kaleidoscope of colours”
antonyms: dull, matte
brilliant or striking in content or style.
“the play’s coruscating wit”
synonyms: brilliant, dazzling, scintillating, exhilarating, stimulating, invigorating; More
witty, clever;
vivacious, sparkling, effervescent, lively, vibrant, animated, ebullient, bright;
impressive, accomplished, ingenious, masterly, imposing, inventive, creative, remarkable, extraordinary, outstanding, exceptional, staggering, incredible, amazing, astonishing, phenomenal, breathtaking, thrilling, exciting
“the play’s coruscating wit”
antonyms: boring, dull, pedestrian
coruscate
ˈkɒrəskeɪt/
verbliterary
gerund or present participle: coruscating
(of light) flash or sparkle.
“the light was coruscating through the walls”
Origin
early 18th century: from Latin coruscat- ‘glittered’, from the verb coruscare .
Thank You,
Tony
Peter Hitchens is speaking out and being heavily shadow banned worth reading his two blogs on this. Whether on the Daily Mail Site if you can access him there or reblogged at these links.
http://letthemconfectsweeterlies.blogspot.se/2018/04/the-benefits-of-conservative-mindset.html
http://letthemconfectsweeterlies.blogspot.se/2018/04/daily-mail-server-problems-or-memory.html
1: “But I do rule out the possibility that Assad is dropping chemical weapons in Ghouta. In this extraordinary war, where Saudi-funded jihadist head choppers have Israeli air support and US and UK military “advisers”, every time the Syrian army is about to take complete control of a major jihadist enclave, at the last moment when victory is in their grasp, the Syrian Army allegedly attacks children with chemical weapons, for no military reason at all. We have been fed this narrative again and again and again”
2: “I have never ruled out the possibility that Russia is responsible for the attack in Salisbury”
The ‘Russia done it’ in Salisbury is claimed by the same people that promote 1 so the same logic in 1 applies. Why would Russia even think of doing this? I think we can confidently say that, even though we do not know who carried out the Salisbury attack, it certainly was not the Russians. In the unlikely situation that Russia really wanted to kill Skripal, they would have done a Gareth Williams on him. The sexual deviancy angle is a guaranteed wnner in the distraction stakes.
Would everyone agree that we are witnessing the ongoing strategy of a psywar campaign to influence public opinion and frame a narrative to support military action in Syria?
One aspect of this strategy is to deluge the public with slightly different versions of the “truth” which change from day to day via media reports from so-called “intelligence sources”, senior “Whitehall figures”, “experts”, etc.
On a psychological level, this leads to the intended outcome in the flow chart below:
Information overload – infobesity – analysis paralysis – cognitive dissonance – bystander syndrome
It is difficult to effectively counteract this strategy using more information as it just adds to the vicious circle, so we need to approach it from a different perspective, a more emotional and visual one:
Now, it seems to me that out governments are especially sensitive to two main issues:
1. Public Opinion
For example, the online 24 hour poll which showed 75% of British people doubted TM’s claims:
Respect and honor to simple Britons — despite the hysteria spread by politicians and the media, they haven’t lost their common sense. Results of a poll, ‘Do you think that the evidence put forward by Theresa May is sufficient to call Russia guilty?’”
https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*wnYLaGC-V_L7bAtCweedIg.png
2. Discrepancies in their narrative (mistakes, evidence of falsehoods)
For example: News that Porton Down scientists were not able to verify the source of the Novichok used to poison Yulia and Sergei Skripal. Social media statistics suggest thousands of users online agreed.
and
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/everything-keeps-changing-about-the-skripal-narrative-except-russia-definitely-did-it-80589c52b8df
One way to combat this insidious campaign would be to publish opinion polls which clearly show that citizens do not believe the government narrative.
This is quite easily engineered by developing and running ongoing public opinion polls with questions (loaded or not, let’s follow their example ;)) which disrupt and counter their narrative.
3. Satire and derision from cartoons and shared jokes
Some linked example mages here:
https://www.sott.net/image/s22/456345/large/Square_Peg_Round_Hole.png
http://www.21cir.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/180405-Theresa-May-Boris-Johnson.jpg
https://i0.wp.com/voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/180317-Theresa-May-proof.jpg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3128202.stm
https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/981652543318167553
https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/980972334306680832
One way to counter their narrative at the emotional level is to use images, for example simplified media-friendly infographics which expose inconsistencies in their narrative.
This also helps to counter information overload.
If anyone with infographic design skills and/or opinion poll skills would like to collaborate on this project, please feel free to contribute.
My favorite explanation for Salisbury:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaA3GBEX4AAo5Fu.jpg
That’s good! In their psywar campaign, constant attempts are made to demonise Putin, Russia, Syrian and Assad (don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they are not demons ;)) for example, Trump’s outburst about “Animal Assad”, but if we wish to counter their narrative then we need to also generate images that effectively demonise and ridicule May, Johnson, NATO and Trump (not difficult).
That’s a nice array of political cartoons, and the infographic is a good idea.
Credit where credit is due!
Are you softening me up for another hatchet job 😉
Marie Colvin: Syria assassinated reporter, court told
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43711617
“Israel: 40 Years On”
On 14 May 1988, the Daily Telegraph wrote:
Tonight’s edition of After Dark… will mark the 40th anniversary of Israel. The programme is likely to cause controversy, as the Shadow Foreign Secretary Gerald Kaufman and a number of Israelis will appear alongside Faisal Aweidah, the hardline PLO representative in London. For Kaufman, the appearance will not be without a political risk, mainly of a backlash from British Jews who are unlikely to be happy about him appearing alongside Aweidah, a supporter of Yasser Arafat. However for the Israelis involved in the programme there are even greater dangers. They will brave the wrath of the government of their country – where it is illegal for citizens to share a platform with the PLO. One participant…has already backed out after being told she would face arrest when returning home after the broadcast.[53]
14 May 1988 Israel: Forty Years On John Underwood Yohanan Lahav, Anton Shammas, Marie Colvin, Gerald Kaufman, Moshe Amirav, Faisal Aweidah, Nadia Hijab
The plot thickens,
Clutching at Straws for Straw Men , One Eyed Spooks https://twitter.com/RogerGLewis/status/983651254713880576