Planning for UK Embassy to Move to Jerusalem Post Brexit 487


UPDATE I find people need more explanation than I realised. The UK is bound by a common position under EU common foreign policy (third pillar). So until Brexit the official line must still be always given that the UK is not considering moving its Embassy. Post Brexit that restriction is lifted. What my source is saying is that secret contingency planning for a post Brexit move to Jerusalem is underway in the FCO. What I have been pressing the FCO for is an admission that planning is taking place. Obviously this is not something they would want to be public knowledge at present.

My source stated that the move is partly ideological, and partly to sweeten relationships with the USA in seeking a trade deal. My own observation is that the Tories probably think this would cause more trouble between Corbyn and the Parliamentary Labour Party, and that the Westminster classes are totally out of touch with real public opinion on Palestine, as they seldom meet anybody who does not share their extreme zionism.

ORIGINAL POST:

This information about planning being carried out in great secrecy came to me from an FCO source I had no previous contact with, so I do not know the reliability. It might even be a hoax to make me look foolish. Therefore I decided to check the story with the FCO Press Department, but I can’t get any response out of them. Not answering questions appears to be the standard British state response to independent journalists now. If this is nonsense, it would have taken the FCO two minutes just to tell me so.

So I am posting this here with the caveat that the information is not verified yet. There is much to be said on motive, both from what I was told by the source and from my own gloss, but I shall leave that until we can make more progress on validation. Obviously, I hope the posting may spur the FCO to respond, or others to corroborate the leak.


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487 thoughts on “Planning for UK Embassy to Move to Jerusalem Post Brexit

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  • Radar O’Reilly

    UK is looking a sad and desperate place, now that some of the glitter is coming off , now that we can see behind some of the veils.

    A story here, which the telegraph doesn’t paywall, about the total information awareness of our surveillance society.

    “Police reaction? Re-open murder investigation? No. Arrest the truth tellers.”

    Collusion between UK state and murderers? GCHQ sees all, Arrest the journos.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/31/journalists-arrested-alleged-theft-documents-northern-ireland/

  • Tony_0pmoc

    Good luck with that Craig. Don’t react, or say a word. Just smile at them

    I personally tonight, have been seriously interrogated by Facebook, to check out if I recognised all these different American images, none of which I have seen in The UK. It took several minutes, and about 4 pages of American multiple image verification, when I had to select the correct boxes and tick them. It was even worse than trying to log on to Sainsburys.

    However, I passed all the tests, and I have not been banned by Facebook yet.

    They probably think I am an American now.

    I do like ZZ Top.

    Tony

    • Cesca

      * It was even worse than trying to log on to Sainsburys.* That is beyond magnificent, kudos bro =)

  • Dave

    Ironically international recognition of Jerusalem, as the capital of Israel also makes it the capital of Palestine and brings the one-state solution centre stage. This is just the way it is, or has become, irrespective of what we may think of the historical record, just as the demographic change in London, within the last 50 years is a done deal and just the way it is, has become, and the battle to stop the changes was lost a long time ago, with “equality and diversity” now the official mantra.

    Saying its not over yet and there’s still time to push the foreigner back into the sea is wishful thinking, particularly as they have been given ownership of the richest area in the country, with no practical right of return for the natives.

    And so the question is how do you make the modern reality work for everyone, as the alternative is a lawless police state and a civil war with no end in sight, a bit like Lebanon until they came to agreement to share the land. And the same process applies everywhere, even Israel despite the present mad leadership.

    • Dave

      The Likud Zionists had a choice between a Jewish (two-state) or multi-national (one state) Israel, but in their madness have gone for a Jewish one-state Israel, which is impossible without apartheid and genocide. One-state is the rational way to resolve the conflict once the Palestinians agree and campaign for equality and diversity as citizens of Israel. And this solution is likely to be welcomed by a more liberal Jewish diaspora who support the idea of Israel, but not a police state apartheid Israel.

      • SA

        Dave
        You make it sound so simple. However Israel has always opposed the one state solution and some misguided people on the Palestinian side have tried to foster the two state solution. The truth of the matter is that as long as Israel’s undisputed status of facts on the ground, the only one state solution will be a Jewish state with Palestinians being second class citizens. This is effectively what has been happening now. Nobody now talks in terms of getting rid of anybody, they just want the Palestinians to be treated as people like everyone else.
        As to your proposal that making Jerusalem the capital of Israel also makes it the capital of Palestine, that is not the case otherwise that would have been declared to be so.

        • N_

          There are 6 million Arab refugees who should be allowed to return if they wish. Why should Z__nazi settlers who arrived from say Hungary or the US two years ago, perhaps living in houses that Arab inhabitants were chased out of by gun-toting goons, perhaps now with younger family members having a whale of a time murdering and humiliating local people for the IDF, be allowed to stay? Some of them even keep homes in Hungary or the US, so it is clear where they should be deported back to. They are the ethnic expellers. Their presence equals other people’s ethnic expulsion.

          I use the word “settler” to cover those who have come from elsewhere, regardless of which side of the Green Line they have “settled” on. Every time someone uses the word to denote only those who have “settled” on land captured in 1967 and not formally annexed (so it is not usually used even for East Jerusalem), Z__nist propagandists high-five each other.

        • Dave

          When you look at history it can look simple, but I agree the present is very hard due to all the spilt blood. I understand extremists on all sides don’t want to compromise, except it isn’t just down to them, because everything is changing everywhere, altering the whole situation.

          For example a multi-national US will support a multi-national, rather than Jewish Israel and Trump’s America First and ‘mixed’ family illustrates the point, which is why the Zionists and Globalists fear him, just as they fear Corbyn.

          • Ian

            You must be joking. They are loving Trump because he is doing everything they want. The Israel lobby in the US is bad enough, but now they have a captured patsy, they are getting whatever they like. He is so malleable and without any understanding of history or politics. And he dreams he will be the great dealmaker who will bring peace to the region – by shafting the Palestinians and stripping them of all rights – just as the Israelis have been doing for decades.

          • blunderon

            Yes I could not agree more Ian
            I am perplexed as to why people still argue Trump is some sort of force against imperialism or the neo-con agenda. That was all talk. He is enabling them to carry on as they were before whilst he brings his own particular vile qualities to the table.

    • Cesca

      *Ironically international recognition of Jerusalem, as the capital of Israel also makes it the capital of Palestine and brings the one-state solution centre stage.* Totally agree bro, i too think the rabid Zionists have cut their noses to spite their faces, it is the only solution now. the best one anyway imo.

      • N_

        “One-state solution” used to mean one secular Palestine from the river to the sea without regard to ethnic and religious background, or, at worst, some kind of “binational” set-up where the Znazi settlers “shared power” with their livestock. Nowadays Znazi propagandists increasingly use the term to denote an arrangement where the remaining Arabs who they haven’t expelled are granted some kind of reservation rights in bantustans.

        Any “one-state solution” that leaves “Israel” be is hasbara and nothing but. We are 30 years after the massive pile of cack called “Oslo”, sold to a few scumbag Palestinian leaders because it involved them being allowed to have a casino in Jericho. Later, most of the Palestinian cabinet got a rake-off from cement contracts for the separation wall, which is why Hamas got so much support.

        Successful BDS is what the Znazis fear.

    • Dave

      You often have to buy peace by paradoxically spending more on the military, decorating the military top brass and retiring them on multi-million dollar pensions and then sending the tax-man after the malcontents, but you need the CIA/FBI on side, which is why it wont happen, unless Trump wins, hence why he needs support rather than vilification from ‘peace activists’.

  • Charles Bostock

    In accordance with the sort of questions you were asking Mark Urban and the BBC, please reveal the identity of your FCO source.

      • Charles Bostock

        Stu

        I wrote “the sort of questions” – ie, questions which Craig knew perfectly well that Mark Urban couldn’t and/or wouldn’t answer.

    • Ian

      Haha, you are so drole, that actually made me laugh.

      In this new spirit of openness perhaps you will answer some of the questions you are asked but never answer – in threads you start, usually demanding answers to your homemade slanted questions. Instead of scuttling away.

      • Charles Bostock

        I should be happy to do so, Frank, provided that all regular commenters do so as well.

        This has been suggested before, I believe – eg, we could all send our details to Craig and once he is satisfied that all have responded he could publsh them en bloc – but reponses have tended to be negative for reasons I can’t quite fathom..

        How about it, Frank (and others)?

    • N_

      I’m surprised more friends here aren’t discussing what’s brewing in Syria.

      Russia has predicted a false flag chemical attack. Last time they did that, it happened. Headline from the Guardian today:

      Syria: the endgame: Civilians in Syria’s last rebel stronghold brace for final battle” (emphasis added).

      The strapline talks of “Assad’s army” preparing to strike. The lead comes in the second paragraph, after a first sentence that is intended to set the scene by conveying just how much the cokehead MSM editors care for ordinary people (talk about taking the piss). The lead states that

      up to 3 million people are bracing for imminent attack by Russian forces who sense victory in one of the last parts of Syria still out of regime control.” (emphasis added).

      Sure – they’ve got a supernatural sense of smell, those evil Russians.

      Who knows – perhaps the false flag chemical attack this time will be blamed directly on Russia? Certainly the situation looks even more scary than it was in Ghouta.

      Who will play the role of the White Helmets this time?

      • SA

        N_
        There were discussions about Syria in the previous thread, Some of us are well aware that that this is the last stand of the terrorists and thier supporters. Even di Mistura has been recruited to suggest humanitarian corridors, something that the Russians and SG have had in operation on all previous cases but which the terrorists tried to stop by shooting at civilians (unmentioned by the MSM).
        Yes the situation is very scary. The BBC today is mentioning the Russian mediterranean presence and military drills as aggressive but of course they are in retaliation and preparation for the ever presence of the US navy and bases in the region. It has even been predicted that the agent that will now be used by the White Helmets in thier next staged attack will be a novichok, in which case Russia can be directly blamed without any need for investigation.

      • laguerre

        That’s another of Martin Chulov’s articles in the Graun, in support of the jihadis, because, as I still find astounding after all this time, that is what British govt policy is. In the same way as Saudi can’t publicly acknowledge its deal with Israel, so Britain can’t acknowledge that it is supporting jihadis, while publicly condemning them at home. Chulov squealed constantly when the east Aleppo pocket was being eliminated, but the threatened numbers of deaths did not occur, mainly because the numbers of civilians there was grossly exaggerated. The same game plan is being followed again now, with no changes. Didn’t work the last time, so probably will not work again.

        Personally, I don’t think the false-flag chemical attack tactic is going to work either, as Trump (or UK) doesn’t really want to go to war with Russia. A volley of missiles, big though it may be, is not going to change the course of the war (as indeed Chulov recognises).

  • Kula

    Imagine an international souk, stretching from Tel Aviv through Jerusalem to Jericho and environs. Concessions are strictly equal for Palestinians and Israelis and enforced by a truly independent body (not UN, the Harvey Weinstein of evenhandedness) under international law. The food, the textiles, the vibe, man….

  • TJ

    It is interesting that –

    1. HMG cannot hammer out a deal to exit the EU in order to ensure the economic future of the UK, something that 17,410,742 people in the UK voted for.

    2. HMG can move an embassy at the behest of at most 269,568 people in the UK.

    Does that look like democracy to anyone?

    • N_

      On the same theme: it took Theresa May nine months, I think it was, to send in the Article 50 letter. But dinner with the chief rabbi? She managed that within hours of winning the Tory leadership, as soon as she knew she would be prime minister, before she even went to the monarch to get officially appointed. (Never mind the formalities. It’s practicalities that count.) She had of course several years behind her of close cooperation as Home Secretary with the Z__nists’ strongarmed security and defence organisation, the CST. The best of luck to anyone who puts in Freedom of Information requests about that.

    • N_

      (A)t most 269,568 people in the UK.”

      Bear in mind that some British J__s oppose moving the British embassy to Jerusalem, and some call for reparations to be paid to the Palestinians. Some support Jeremy Corbyn. Some completely oppose the existence of the Zionazi regime called I__ael.

      • TJ

        Yes, I am aware of that, some of them are even friends, that is why I put the number as an upper limit rather than a definitive number.

  • Tom

    Meanwhile, another weekend of the Deep State frantically plugging their anti-semitism and McCain narratives via their poodle media.

    • nevermind

      He keeps a copy of all canspecci’s, as well as those of anon1 in a plastic bag under his bridge.

  • mog

    My source stated that the move is partly ideological, and partly to sweeten relationships with the USA in seeking a trade deal.

    So either ideological or ideological then.

    People note that the media/political class are becoming increasingly divergent from public opinion, as if the elites are oblivious to this fact. The Guardian are losing readers to Evolve and The Canary, support for Corbyn seems to get ‘stronger’ the more he is attacked.

    Considering the statement of Netanyahu yesterday though, does any of it matter? We can see what is coming down the line, but can we see any meaningful way of responding to it?

  • Rhys Jaggar

    Do I suspect a series of answers akin to Bill Clinton about Monica Lewinsky?

    Surely not!!

  • Sharp Ears

    Why has the Sadiq Khan balloon showing him in a bikini. Is there a suggestion that he is transgender or something?
    https://news.sky.com/story/sadiq-khan-giant-balloon-london-mayor-bikini-blimp-takes-to-the-skies-11487392

    The originator and fundraiser (what a waste of money – £60k) is being accused of being far right, racist and anti-semitic, all of which he denies.

    He concluded his denial on Sky News by having knock at Sadiq Khan’s party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, for his anti-semitism.

    It really has been the silly season.

    • N_

      Possibly there is that kind of innuendo against Sadiq Khan, yes. His backing for Transport for London ceasing to use the words “ladies and gentlemen” in its announcements, because those words are supposedly exclusive of transvestites, doesn’t help. He has also backed gay symbols on traffic lights during “gay pride” festivities, saying they “show we stand shoulder to shoulder with Orlando”.

      The phrase “get a proper job” comes to mind.

      • frank

        and maybe you should get one N.
        Are you so far in the closet that you are a personal friend of Mr Tumnus?

        • N_

          No. But you seem reluctant to call “ridiculous” even when the authorities take their promotion of transsexuality to a point that almost any sane person would agree deserves ridicule. How far would they have to go before you objected? What if they jailed people for saying “ladies and gentlemen” rather than “ladies and gentlemen and those who aren’t sure”. What if they criminalised publicly opposing the “right” of men in drag to use women’s toilets? Would you at some point say “that’s enough”?

          • MJ

            Gaoling doesn’t go far enough in my view. I think any individual who says something that another individual finds offensive should be summarily executed.

          • Sharp Ears

            The troughers are back on Tuesday. They start at 2.30pm and have a really busy day. Not.

            2.30 pm
            Oral questions
            Foreign and Commonwealth Office (including Topical Questions)

            Ten Minute Rule Motion
            Ceramics (Country of Origin Marking) – Ruth Smeeth

            Legislation
            Civil Liability Bill [Lords] – Second Reading

            Programme Motion
            Civil Liability Bill [Lords] – Mr David Gauke

            Money Resolution
            Civil Liability Bill [Lords] – Mel Stride

            Adjournment
            Gilligan report on cycling in Oxford and Cambridge – Layla Moran

            Perhaps Mr Hunt will have some info on the plan for a UK Embassy in Israel.

            https://calendar.parliament.uk/calendar/Commons/All/2018/9/4/Daily

          • Sharp Ears

            I object to the current agenda which wants young children to decide on their gender. The Tavistock Clinic is doing well out of the referrals.

    • N_

      Yanny Bruere’s uncle is Dirk Bruere – a raving “transhumanist” post-Nazi and fan of swastika-flavoured elitism and of Joachim von Ribbentrop, although as I understand it he is not anti-J__ish, preferring nationalism to racism.

      This is not meant as a criticism of Yanny Bruere. I have neither researched him nor read the criticisms of his actions. He may have a different attitude from his uncle’s.

    • N_

      What a curious document from the Knights of the Red Branch. Pete Baker has this and this to say.

      People in NI may not want to vote to lose the NHS. Might US health insurance interests be pushing for Irish unification?

      Baker seems to think Michael Burke, former international economist at CitiBank, had something to do with this report.

        • N_

          Got to wonder how the DUP’s line may change. How long can they keep shouting that whatever happens they want to retain an open border with the Republic of Ireland and they want no erection of trade barriers with Great Britain? If Brexit happens and Britain leaves the customs union and the single market, will they realise that they can’t get what they want? This is assuming that the Republic of Ireland stays in the EU and that the EU doesn’t chuck away its main foundations. As poverty increases, religion is likely to get more weight. NI will be no exception. A lot of batshit stuff may lie around the corner in the North of Ireland. Giving such excessive importance to the border issue is already pretty batshit. Whether the border is open or is lined with several parallel lines of NATO wire is a matter of little practical importance for most people in Belfast.

          • Ian

            It’s of huge importance, you numpty. The DUP, like Farage and Johnson are wreckers who believe that chaos will destroy the current agreements and out of it they will be able to impose their toxic, reactionary agenda.

          • MJ

            EU wire. Obviously it is incompatible for Ireland to be in the EU and the UK out. Either both in or both out, as it has always been.

          • Dave

            Ironically the argument for Britain remaining in the EU is the reason Ireland should leave the EU following Brexit, because the economic and cultural links, despite some bad feeling, between Ireland and Britain are far stronger than between Ireland and EU. The truth is even if outside EU, Britain wouldn’t have allowed Ireland to suffer like Greece at the hands of the EU. The solution is for Ireland to leave the EU and re-join the British Commonwealth. I.e. a United Ireland within a United Britain.

          • Ian

            Ireland loves being in the EU, it has a very high level of support. Quite rightly, they have prospered from it. As we did, but are happy to throw away over some ludicrous idea that we can go back to the 19thC. And as for Ireland looking to the EU for help, you cannot possibly be serious, after the way we have treated them.

          • laguerre

            Dave

            “Ireland should leave the EU following Brexit, because the economic and cultural links, despite some bad feeling, between Ireland and Britain are far stronger than between Ireland and EU.”

            That ship has sailed. Ireland understands that its prosperity comes from the EU, not from Britain.

          • lysias

            There are now more Catholics than Protestants in NI. Once it becomes clear that the people of NI are paying a heavy price for staying in the UK, how long will NI continue?

      • remember kronstadt

        I’m sure that many people of NI are delighted to be underwritten, biddable and bribable whilst clinging to nurse. Despite the efforts over centuries to cut the knot perhaps the english should confiscate the stabilisers and encourage them to play with the next door kids?

    • Ian

      They think they can curry favour with the US, the naive, craven fools. Even better they think it will play badly inside Labour, for good reasons, and so the can keep the anti-semitism bandwagon rolling indefinitely. While ignoring their own far worse anti-muslim agenda.

  • Sharp Ears

    Is the Mueller investigation preparing to indict WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange?
    By James Cogan
    1 September 2018
    The investigation by special counsel and former FBI director Robert Mueller into alleged “Russian interference” in the 2016 US presidential election is close to issuing an indictment against WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange. That is the conclusion that can be drawn from a lengthy article authored by James Gordon Meek and Ali Dukakis and published on August 29 by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).

    James Gordon Meek is not just any journalist. He must be ranked as one of the prime conduits in the American media for the positions of the US intelligence, police and military apparatus. Throughout his now 25-year career, he has been repeatedly used by “unnamed sources” within the state to luridly report on a myriad of purported terrorism conspiracies that have been used to justify the military operations and anti-democratic outrages carried out under the pretext that the US is fighting a “war on terror.” From 2011 to 2013, he worked as the leading “counterterrorism advisor” to the congressional Committee on Homeland Security.

    /..
    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/09/01/assa-s01.html

    Janet Napolitano was the head of the department when Meek was advising the Homeland Security Committee. She took over from Chertoff in 2009. Bush founded the department following the Twin Towers ‘attack’ in 2001. The current office holder worked for Bush and under Trump, implemented the family separation policy at the Mexico border. She has Danish and Italian parentage.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirstjen_Nielsen

    Praying that they will not get their hands on Julian.

  • Sharp Ears

    Frank Field. A viper in Labour’s bosom. He should have been a Tory. Good riddance.

    ‘He is a member of the advisory board of the free-market think tank Reform**, and of the generally conservative but also “broad church” magazine Standpoint. In May 2008, he said that Margaret Thatcher “is certainly a hero” and that “I still see Mrs T from time to time – I always call her ‘Mrs T’, when I talk to her.”.

    Two nights before the Conservative Party leadership election in November 1990, he visited then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street. He advised her that her time as Prime Minister was drawing to a close and that she should back John Major to take over the role. His reason for doing so was that he felt that her Conservative colleagues would not tell her straight that she could not win a leadership contest. Following this meeting, he was smuggled out of Downing Street’s back door. Two days later Margaret Thatcher supported John Major for the post, and Major went on to become Prime Minister.’
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Field_(British_politician)

    ** Founded by Nick Herbert in 2001

    ‘As well as publishing its own research, Reform also publishes papers by external authors. According to its website, recent authors have included Norman Warner, the Labour Peer and former Health Minister; Paul Corrigan, health adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair; the Rt Hon Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills; Jeremy Browne MP, the former Liberal Democrat Minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office; and Stephen Greenhalgh, (Conservative) Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in London.
    Speakers at Reform events have included:
    Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP and Rt Hon Sadiq Khan MP (Labour);
    Rt Hon Theresa May MP and Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP (Conservative);
    Rt Hon Danny Alexander MP and Norman Lamb MP (Liberal Democrat).’
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_(think_tank)
    Nick Herbert was a Department of Justice and Home Office Minister under Cameron. An MP for Arundel & South Downs since 2005

    • charming

      I worked for an ex-labour to tory lord a long time ago and his forlorn wife confided that FF was the ‘other woman’ in the relationship. regular sundays spent at Brompton Oratory, not known if they were preying or confessing

    • Anon1

      He almost single-handedly got Philip Green to cough up £360 million towards BHS’s pension deficit. Quite the Tory.

      I think what you mean to say is that he’s not a left-wing automaton with a prescribed set of beliefs that he cannot deviate from. His views on mass-immigration refer.

      • Charles Bostock

        Frank Field is one of the good guys and did a lot of good both during his parliamentary career and before (Child Poverty Action Group and so on – full details, all verifiable, in his Wikipedia entry)

        Compare his achievements and his involvement in many socially meaningful causes with those of totally useless (except to himself) former Labour and then “Respect” MP Mr George Galloway…..

        • Ian

          Yes, you know so much about him you had to look him up on Wiki. Just to try and annoy some people with your secondhand opinions.

          • Charles Bostock

            Why should referring people to Frank Field’a achievements as detailed in his Wikipedia entry annoy you or anyone else? And as for the comparison with Mr George Galloway, well, it’s not really a matter of opinion is it, rather one of (easily verifiable) facts.

      • Sharp Ears

        Don’t give me that rubbish.

        Could we be told what the deficit was on the pension scheme that the Pensions Protection Fund had to pick up using funds from other funds.
        https://www.pensionprotectionfund.org.uk/Pages/homepage.aspx

        Also what is the extent of Green’s current indebtedness to the banks, his suppliers, his landlords and his staff? Inland Revenue too in all probability. Is he still on the wife’s superyacht or not? Lionheart, Lioness, Lionchase, Lion Cub.
        https://www.superyachtfan.com/superyacht/superyacht_lionheart.html

        • Charles Bostock

          It’s not rubbish.

          Without the pressure from Frank Field and the Select Committee he chaired Philip Green would have coughed up precisely nothing.

          What is it with you that you feel obliged to rubbish everyone?

        • Ken Kenn

          As far as I know Sir Philip Green hasn’t coughed up a carrot.

          Typical of Hodges and Field’ s diversions it is more of a smokescreen
          rather than an enlightening exercise in Select Committees.

          Unfortunately Filed has been ” advised ” by those in the know who haven’t got the gut to jump ship themselves.

          As an experienced politician he should have known bwttwe r and now he wants to wheedle his way back into the Labour Party.

          Meanwhile Chukka is organising a party.

          It has no policies.

          It has no leader and it has no future under first past the post politics.

          What idiots they are.

          The Lib/Dems are doing realy well in the Centrist trench.

          • Charles Bostock

            @Ken Kenn

            “As far as I know Sir Philip Green hasn’t coughed up a carrot”

            Your knowledge is deficient and you’re wrong. Sorry, but facts are important.

      • Clark

        Anon1, 15:21:

        “He almost single-handedly got Philip Green to cough up £360 million towards BHS’s pension deficit”

        I make that around a thousandth of Philip Green’s current wealth. Green “coughed up” a crumb from the table, for the people who actually earned him that wealth, in their old age.

        • Anon1

          Not sure that Green is worth £360 billion. I think you mean £3.6 billion.

          Anyway the point isn’t about the rights and wrongs of Philip Green’s business dealings. It’s about Frank Field forcing him to cough up a substantial amount of BHS’s pension shortfall.

  • Athanasius

    Hardly a surprise. England has been Washington’s bee itch for the last seventy years. Wherever Washington goes, England, like Mary’s little lamb, is sure to follow. It’s been the way of things since WWII. If Trump called May at three o’clock in the morning and told her to get herself over there, she’d be on the plane in her nightie.

  • Foreboding

    Lavrovs stark warning to the “Coalition” not to play with fire, he is reputed to have told Pompeo the Russians would sink a coalition vessel for every dead child used as a prop in any White Helmets propaganda video, seems to have fallen upon deaf ears. The CIA just executed Russia’s main man in Donbass. Impunity has reached a highly explosive stage, something has to give soon. And all along our Treeza is quite content to shake a robotic leg in faraway lands. Its a shambles, only the usual suspects who stock up on jewels are prepared.

  • Charles Bostock

    Well, almost a week on, the Erez Crossing between the State of Israel and Gaza remains open. That is surely because Hamas has decided to stop organising the “protests” along the border and to stop rocket attacks.

    The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza is also open, so no need for any more silly little attempts to sail vessels into Gaza [port!

    • Ian

      Can’t stop your silly little attempt at trolling can you? Despite refusing to answer any questions, you desperately try to goad people with your clumsy little loaded statements. Like you give a stuff about the palestinians, or have a clue what is going on there.

      • Charles Bostock

        ” you desperately try to goad people with your clumsy little loaded statements”

        I’m not seeking to goad anyone. Ian, but if I were I would certainly have succeeded as far as you’re concerned, wouldn’t I.

        The reason I mentioned the opening of the Erez Crossing is that while we usually hear a lot on here every time the crossing is closed (in response to Hamas-incited violence and provocation), no one ever brings the good news that the crossing has been re-opened. As I know how much many people care for the Palestinians, I’m happy to bring such positive developments to their attention. in case they missed them.

    • Clark

      Why on Earth shouldn’t Gaza have a busy port?

      Would those be protests about the Palestinain’s displacement and the Gazan’s imprisonment? Would those be rocket attacks into their own former land? Agree with it or not, occupied peoples have a right to resist.

  • Sharp Ears

    Another Tory, Jesse Norman, is given houseroom on BBC’s Booktalk by the creepy Mark D’Arcy to promote his book
    Adam Smith, What He Thought, and Why it Matters
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bdx2r0 15 mins

    5 Jul 2018 – Adam Smith is now widely regarded as ‘the father of modern economics’ and the most influential economist who ever lived. But what he really thought, and what the implications of his ideas are, remain fiercely contested. Was he an eloquent advocate of capitalism and the freedom of the individual? Or a prime mover of ‘market fundamentalism’ and an apologist for inequality and human selfishness? Or something else entirely? Jesse Norman’s brilliantly conceived \book gives us not just Smith’s economics, but his vastly wider intellectual project. Against the turbulent backdrop of Enlightenment Scotland, it lays out a succinct and highly engaging account of Smith’s life and times, reviews his work as a whole and traces his influence over the past two centuries.
    https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/307560/adam-smith/

    Norman was a Barclays Director and is the PuS for Failing Grayling. Says it all. MP for Hereford etc since 2010. Eton and Oxford.

    The usual – literary advances, royalties, appearance fees and paid for visits abroad but not to Israel. That’s a first.
    The Chilean Presidency paid him £4k-5k to visit Chile in 2011 for three speeches on the theme of the Big Society. That was a joke.
    https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24827/jesse_norman/hereford_and_south_herefordshire

    He married the daughter of the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham. His father is Sir Torquil Norman who sounds interesting.
    In his favour, he voted against Cameron’s plan to attack Syria and was promptly sacked from Cameron’s No 10 Policy Board.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Norman

      • Sharp Ears

        Best place or should I say RIP as for John McCain? The funeral has gone on for over two hours. First an eulogy from his daughter Meghan who worked for Murdoch on Fox News and now presents The View, a talk show. She was very emotional and spoke for 30 minutes including a dig at Trump. Then Lieberman, then one of McCain’s sons who is a helicopter pilot in the US Navy, plus Obama, Dubya and Kissinger – all of that interspersed with hymns and readings and choral works. Now Sydney McCain, another daughter with a reading. The BBC live broadcast has ended and the ceremony is ongoing.

        You would think McCain had spent his life in saving the world rather than in wanting to destroy most of it from time to time, and its people with brown or yellow skins. Terrible. Remember Vietnam and Agent Orange. Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran! I remember and his dirty work planned for Ukraine too.

        John McCain: ‘Vladimir Putin Is an Evil Man’
        In an excerpt from his new memoir, Sen. McCain discusses his longstanding opposition to the Russian strongman—and his own role in receiving ‘the Steele dossier’ about Donald Trump
        https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-mccain-vladimir-putin-is-an-evil-man-1525964549
        May 11 2018

        It is a display of America First rather than the funeral of a sick and old warmonger.

        • Carl

          Murderous war pigs lionized by liberals, as they smear and demonize a man of peace. These are our times and they are very dark.

        • defo

          Supposedly, the McCain memorialathon is going to conclude with a CGI of him riding the bomb in Dr Strangelove.

        • OAH

          He was one evil, sick SOB who was around far too long and the treatment by the MSM was completely revolting. Unfortunately, the sick system over there produces an unending supply of neocon clones until the ultimate mushroom clouds.

        • Dungroanin

          If ever there was a chance missed to round up the evil fuckers of the world in one fell swoop, that was it.

          Where is the hand of God dropping an asteroid when you need it?

          Ah well at least there is a list of the secret cabal at that fun real.

          Any ‘Brits’ spotted?

      • Ort

        I sincerely hope that you do not suffer nightmares in which Smith’s Invisible Hand arises and invades your Personal Body Space.

    • Charles Bostock

      “The Chilean Presidency paid him £4k-5k to visit Chile in 2011 for three speeches on the theme of the Big Society. ”

      Is there any problem there?

      • Isa

        In 2011 Piñera was president of Chile ( as he is yet again since March ’18). Considering UK and US involvement in killing Allende to put Pinochet in power it is rather clear why An invitation by Piñera ( who had far more sympathy for Pinochet than he discloses ) to a Tory speaker to conduct talks in Chile is frowned upon and certainly comes with other intentions . The people of South America happily have long memories though and remember both Countries interventions rather vividly .

      • Ken Kenn

        The Chilean President had a dalliance with the Chicago School of Economis under Pinochet after the displacement ( I’m being kind ) of Allende.

        According to Chomsky after the dalliance with Monetarism ended Pinochet and his Junta ended up having to Nationalise
        much more than Allende ever did in order to stabilise the economy.

        Look it up – you might learn something about Corporate Welfare.

        Thatcher knew it well and the current 1% know it intimately.

        It’s a guarantee of getting paid.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    I find Her Excellency Dame Karen Pierce, extremely annoying, even more so than her America equivalents. I assume Craig Murray knows her. She joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1981. If this is the current standard of the best diplomats we have got, then its hardly surprising we are in deep sh1t as far as world affairs are concerned. Yes I know she went to school in Lancashire, which makes it even more embarrassing.

    Can’t we trade her in for Caitlin Johnstone – I know she’s an Aussie, but she seems very bright. I don’t think she is too impressed with her either.

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2018/08/30/uk-syrian-terrorists-cant-possibly-be-planning-chemical-weapons-false-flag-because-russia-said-they-are/

    Tony

  • N_

    Propaganda may be underway to support an attempted military strike by the US and its allies puppets against a Russian-defended base in Syria.

    The Times writes:

    Iran is building a missile factory in Syria under the cover of a Russian defence umbrella and is sending ballistic missiles to its allies in Iraq, according to reports that have raised fears of an expanding confrontation with I__ael.

    Satellite images showed what appeared to be a base and factory taking shape in northwest Syria near the town of Baniyas. It is in an area covered by a Russian S-400 aerial defence system set up to protect Moscow’s operations in the Syrian civil war, which would make it a tricky target for an I__aeli airstrike.

    Whose reports, fears, and satellite images? you may ask. Read on and find out.

    The article seems to have been the result of furious “negotiation”. The headline says “Iran builds new missile factory in Syria under Russian defence shield” and the photograph suggests that the Times’s picture desk found a photo of missiles made at the said missile factory. But the caption says the photograph is in Tehran.

    The development in Wadi Jahannam near Baniyas was spotted by ImageSat International, based in I__ael.

    “Based in” – LOL!

    The company said that the base’s layout was reminiscent of Parchin, Iran’s highly secretive missile development centre. It added that with the Syrian civil war winding down, in part thanks to Iranian support for the Assad regime, the assumption had to be that the missiles were to add to Iran’s and Hezbollah’s arsenal for use against I__ael.

    The S-400 defence system is Russia’s most up to date and is regarded as a threat to US aircraft, let alone I__aeli ones. Moscow has refused to supply the system to the regime but uses it to protect its own forces.

    How can a ground-based air defence system be a “threat” to aircraft? It may be part of a threat to do what the aircraft could prevent if they weren’t defended against, but that’s different. Unless of course you think you’ve got a right to rob and kill whenever you like, and that anyone who stands in your way is threatening you. In which case you should be disarmed and put in a mental hospital.

  • Jim

    In a taxi and just passed you walking down the Royal Mile towards your home with your son – who was carrying a bunch of red roses, presumably for his mum! Never give up the good work Craig, for you are a good man.

  • Sharp Ears

    What’s the Hebrew for ‘Is he off his trolley?’

    ‘PM of Israel
    @IsraeliPM
    ·
    Aug 29
    The weak crumble, are slaughtered and are erased from history while the strong, for good or for ill, survive. The strong are respected, and alliances are made with the strong, and in the end peace is made with the strong.’

    There are multiple similar entries. He’s swallowed the Torah or maybe the two books of the Talmud.

      • Paul Barbara

        MJ September 1, 2018 at 21:30
        Meshugana in Yiddish, apparently.How many times I’ve been called that, already!

        • Kerch'eee Kerch'ee Coup

          Always wanted to learn Yiddish in Birobidzhan(Biro bidjian) one summer , as Yiddish culture was long dispised in the later state set up elsewhere while still somewhat active there.

    • laguerre

      Waste of breath for Netanyahu. Probably done because it’s recognised that their land army is no longer fit for purpose, and only their air force is keeping them afloat. Apart from the nuclear weapons, which we’re told are aimed at Europe, and not at Arab capitals, who wouldn’t be discouraged by the blinding light. Bibi is getting a bit uncomfortable.

    • Alex Westlake

      “The strong, for good or ill, survive” – in other words the good guys have to be strong. Wars generally end because one side wins

  • Trowbridge H. Ford

    Can America ever return to some kind of normalcy when it honors John McCain, who accidentally firing a missile on the start of a mission over North Vietnam which killed 134 sailors on the aircraft catti USS Forrestal in June 1967?

    The US leaders like Obummer crave to make everyone important seem like a hero when they have just caused wrongful killings.

      • Trowbridge H. Ford

        And likely if it was untrue, McCain would have successfully sued the veteran, knowledgeable reporter which he didn’t do because he wanted everyone to forget about his earlier life.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ Trowbridge H. Ford September 1, 2018 at 21:43
      Blimey! And the tailor was delighted with “Seven at one blow!”
      Even the Is^aelis only managed 34 dead (and 171 wounded) in a sustained merciless attack on the USS Liberty in the same year, 1967 (which McCain’s father was instrumental in covering up).
      I wonder how much the North Vietnamese paid McCain to ‘accidentally’ fire on the Forestall?

    • King of Welsh Noir

      John McCain started the fire on the USS Forrestal? Hey you’ve finally found a conspiracy theory even I don’t believe! Congratulations.

  • Nicholas Allott

    Craig – if you are reading this please get in touch with me. We need you to sign a contract for your essay to appear in the Chomsky Responsibility of Intellectuals book with UCL Press. We’ve been sending you emails with no response. The book is ready to go to press, so this is now urgent.

    Best,
    Nick

    If anyone reading this has the opportunity to bring it directly to Craig’s attention, I’d be very grateful if you could do so.

    My apologies to everyone else for this off-topic comment.

    • Twostime

      Craig’s currently supporting #Unity4J stream Julian Assange. Sure he’ll be back here soon.

      • nevermind

        Just watched the call out for action tomorrow under #unity4J everywhere. Thanks twotime.

        A truthspeaker journalist and great public servant ia about to be offered to the baying mob, ready to goad him on the way to the schaffot.

        What has happened to society that it can’t see the immense value Julian and other journalist have provided, the reality they opened peoples eyes with.

        Wherever you are there will be others who think alike, who value an informed public, find them , go to the place you expect to find protests and add your voice to that of others.

        I will endevour to do the same. To those who know where i am , i’ll see you in the city.

  • Hatuey

    One of the reasons the embassy move doesn’t agitate people as it probably should is down to the fact that life for the people of Gaza really couldn’t be any worse. The situation there is so bad that most of the population are unable to achieve the minimum intake of calories required to sustain normal bodily functioning. It’s as bad as it has ever been there right now.

    The predictabled consequences in terms of infant mortality, malnutrition, disease, depression, premature deaths, suicide rates, etc., are of course measurable. But one of the golden rules of western aggression is that we don’t measure the damage that we or friends cause.

    Is there anything that any of us can do to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians? That’s probably the most pressing and pertinent question that ordinary people across the world face right now. The whole subject just paralyses me with seething hatred. I can only imagine how intense the hatred for Israel is in that region amongst those directly affected by their cruelty and aggression.

    Well, I’m not a Buddhist or a believer in karma. But life has a way of punishing those who sow seeds like this. So, to answer that question, yes, there’s much to be done. Boycott Israeli produce, write to your MP, complain, draw attention to what they do, etc. All the usual stuff.

    And watch. One day they will unravel. I’m a forgiving person but when Israel gets its comeuppance I know exactly how I’ll respond; “fuck’em”.

    • jake

      Do you think a boycott of Israeli produce will be effective?
      Do you think a post-brexit change to labeling standards to remove the requirement for a country of origin declaration wouldn’t follow pdq if it was?

      • Hatuey

        No, a boycott is unlikely to make much difference. I didn’t suggest it would. But I’ll continue boycotting anyway and if it becomes impossible to identify Israeli produce I’ll re-assess.

        But there’s not a lot we can do, is there…

      • Dungroanin

        A boycott of SA ‘cape’ goods outside co-op supermarkets and protests at Barclays bank branches, in the 80’s – got the message through much faster than isolated protests.

        It’s when you can speak to ordinary ill- informed consumers how they can immediately register their support – that is when the bankers listen and pull the strings of the politicians.

        No need to fight hard when you can fight smart!

        Boycotts work.

        I bought some Palastinian madjul dates yesterday – just because they were from there. Bloody delicious too.

        • Hatuey

          Hmmmmm. There’s much I could say in response to that but it’d be entirely negative.

          The Israeli economy doesn’t depend on us buying the fruits of their land grabs though. The last time I looked, agriculture accounted for about 2% of GDP.

          They have a seemingly massive technology sector. Just about every major US tech company you care to mention has invested heavily in Israel. And that along with unending generosity of US taxpayers through “aid” gives their economy a buoyancy that defies gravity (and boycotts).

          Aid and FDI, I suspect, are closely connected, but I’ve never looked into it.

          It’s all fake though and dependent on the alacrity of Americans in one way or another. If companies like Google, Facebook, etc., pulled out and US aid stopped, the Israeli economy would collapse in a heartbeat.

          Boycotting Israeli oranges will not make an atom of difference to this economy as a whole. I’ll still do it, for reasons of principle — fruit grown in those circumstances leaves a bad taste in your mouth — but I’m not under any illusions.

          • Dungroanin

            Oranges aren’t the only fruit.
            High tech can also be boycotted.
            Start with mangoes and delete pokerstars and likes of.
            Make people aware of which companies are involved.
            Make it easier for people to act on their own doorstep.

            It is not meant to destroy but to persuade a change of policy.

            I don’t hate Israel or Israelis and will always support their rights to exist, security and self determinism. Along with Scotland and Catalonia – as we did with South Africa and Zimbabwe.

            Religion is a PERSONAL issue not political and it should never be confused or you end up with Myanmar, Shri Lanka, Hindu murders of meat eaters, fundamentalist US preachers hurring along the end of days … there are endless examples.

            But I will not stand for a racist, religious fanatist expansion and endless persecution of the peoples of Palestine no matter what their religion or ethnicity.

          • Hatuey

            Dungroanin, if you’re going to correct me then you could at least make an effort to address things I have said rather than things you want to imagine I said.

            For example, I didn’t say oranges were the only fruit. Also, it would be virtually impossible to boycott Israeli-made technologies — you’d need a PhD in something impressive to identify the array of components inside something like a phone or a computer and trace their origins. And that’s hardware, it gets even more complex with software.

            Then you devote a lengthy paragraph to some sort speech about religion. I didn’t mention religion once or the so called “right” of Israel to exist. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about crap like that and I’ve heard enough speeches and moralising on that stuff to last me a lifetime, thanks.

      • Paul Barbara

        @ jake September 2, 2018 at 01:14
        The way Is^ael is fighting back against BDS indicates it is effective.

  • giyane

    Assuming that Al Queenida , one of Her Majesty’s leading regiments serving under MI6 in Syria, will be evacuated under the cover of a false-flag chemical attack, where will they be sent next?

    Ever since a rather pathetic officer in Al Queenida tried to recruit me in 2002 I have deliberately disobeyed all his stupid instructions because Al Queenida is a tool of the enemies of Islam.

    No priest, imam, guru, fake prophet, imposter, political recruit of violent Islamism or the Muslim Brotherhood
    can wield power over an Englishman or woman since the abolition of all hierarchical power in 1640 after the English civil war.

    This is Corbyn’s point. The objection he maintains against the hierarchs of Zionism is that it is fundamentally against English Law and principles that an Englishman or woman can be subdued to any form of obedience to any hierarchial power, whether that be Christian, Muslim, Islamist, pagan or Zoroastrian.

    Zionism has zero authority in England to compel any party to comply with its orders and instructions, even if those orders and instructions are internationally recognised. That is English Law.

    Any hierarchy that tries to enforce its will over any Englishman or woman is contravening English law. Fact.
    But if the Zionists or islamists or sophists or anarchists still persist in trying to compel our citizens to their wonky creeds, they are committing treason. This country is a monarchy and we will not be compelled to obey any religious would-be up-starts who follow alien cultural values and alien customs.

    Talking of monarchy, the Saudi Zionists have confessed that Yemeni school children were not a valid target for their illegal bombing. What they forgot to mention that under Shari’ah law murder of a Muslim without valid cause will result in the person who commits the crime being condemned to hell fire. But Qisas/legal revenge would be a better system, because until such time that murder and bloodshed is brought to the Saudi tyrants , for them to taste and savour the pain and injury, they will never relinquish the fruits of their confederacy with USUKIS the ability to murder at will while sitting in the comfort of their manazil/ palaces London SW1.

  • Herbie

    “It was a time when things gradually got better.”

    Yes, of course it was. They were rebuilding after WWII. Things could only get better.

    Anyway, once they’d built things up, they feasted upon the material assets, so built.

    Then things, gradually at first, but ever more quickly, get worse and worse.

    Collapse.

    Rinse.

    Rebuild again.

    Repeat.

    I mean, if you just allowed stable development, everyone would just get wealthier over time and mess with elite differentials.

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