Cui Bono? David Leask, Ben Nimmo and the Attack on Ordinary Scottish Nationalists 1068

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We know for certain that the Integrity Initiative targets Scottish Nationalists, because two of its luminaries, otherwise unconnected to each other, David Leask and Ben Nimmo, collaborated on a massive attack piece in the Herald identifying individual SNP supporters as “Russian Bots”.

Ben Nimmo works for the Atlantic Council, funded inter alia by NATO. He is also on a retainer of £2,500 per month from the Integrity Initiative, in addition to payments for individual pieces of work. For his attack on Scottish Nationalists Nimmo was therefore paid by the Atlantic Council (your taxes through NATO), by the Integrity Initiative (your taxes) and by the Herald (thankfully shortly going bankrupt). Leask claims to have received nothing but a cheese sandwich from the Integrity Initiative, but has briefed them in detail on Scottish nationalism, attended their seminars, and they have included Leask’s output in their “outcomes” reports to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (on which more in a few days’ time).

I took apart Leask and Nimmo’s horrendous attack at the time, revealing among other things that one of Nimmo’s criteria for spotting a Russian bot or troll was use of the phrase cui bono.

Nimmo’s role as witchfinder-general for Russian Bots appears very remunerative. His August 2016 invoice to The Institute for Statecraft, apparently the 71st invoice he had issued to various neo-con bodies that year, was for £5,000.

It is interesting that rather than sort code and account number, his invoice gives IBAN and BIC, used for payments coming from abroad.

There is a very important aspect of the detailed minute of David Leask’s briefing for the Integrity Initiative, which CommonSpace cut out of the extracts which they published. Leask says that the Integrity Initiative are “pushing at an open door” with the SNP leadership and the editors of The National, who he characterises as reliably anti-Russian and pro-NATO:

YATA – there would probably be a lot of studenty anti-NATO responses. But that might be more of a reason to do it. But SNP reversed NATO policy when it realised what Russia was up to (under influence of Nordic/Baltic allies)
 Mainstream politicians don‟t want to challenge the fringe normally but they’re starting to. Stewart McDonald (defence spokesman) pitching NATO – “friends in Norway, Balts etc are in it”. SNP foreign policy chiefs have very anti-Kremlin, anti-RT, pro-Ukraine rhetoric.
 Immigration not an issue in Scotland.
 Pushing at open door – allies in Scotland about disinformation. Putin may want to sow discord among Scottish nationalists. Pro-independence sister paper had headline complaining Russian trolls attacking Sturgeon. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16094929.SNP_top_brass_warn__Sturgeon_is_being_targeted_by_Kremlin_trolls/
Yes campaign had attacks on servers and cyberactivity, thought it was the Brits but then concluded it was probably Russians. http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/referendumnews/15771388.Yes_leaders__Don_t_be__naive__about_Russian_online_meddling_in_independence/
 SNP going to Ukraine – to reassure allies they are not pro-Russian.

I am afraid Leask is not wrong. The continual willingness of the SNP leadership to endorse Britnat anti-Russian rhetoric without question is a nagging worry for many nationalists. Precisely the same department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which funds the Integrity Initiative, funds the Westminster Foundation for Democracy which paid for this joint Britnat/SNP leadership group event at the last SNP Conference, featuring a Ukrainian politician also used by the Integrity Initiative.

Read that carefully, and note that it is not just a discussion on the Ukraine – no harm in that – but one which is openly anti-Russian. The very title, on countering Russian disinformation, is literally straight out of the Integrity Initative’s handbook. Two SNP MP’s took part, including the foreign policy spokesman.

Remember that meeting was on the conference fringe at which I was not permitted to hold a meeting on preparing for Indyref II. An awful lot of Nicola loyalists tell me that, in appearing at present to be much more interested in keeping the entire UK in the EU, rather than striking for Scottish Independence, the leadership are playing a brilliant tactical game.

Other explanations are available.

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1,068 thoughts on “Cui Bono? David Leask, Ben Nimmo and the Attack on Ordinary Scottish Nationalists”

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    • Blunderbuss

      Great opportunity for a scam.

      1) Claim you have seen a drone over Gatwick

      2) Shop somebody you don’t like to the police

      3) Claim £60,000 reward

  • N_

    The British government has now reversed the police statement that there may not have been any drones over Gatwick at all.

    The current position is that the second position (I hope everybody is keeping up) was a result of “miscommunication”. They’re back to the first position now: lots of drone activity over Gatwick.

    After a meeting with the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence, and Home Office, a “government official” said that “the suggestion there was never a drone because there was no available footage had been a ‘miscommunication’.”

    Jo Shiner, Sussex Police deputy chief constable, said “We can unequivocally state that there have been numerous illegal drone sightings at the airport over three days from 19 to 21 December.There were numerous reports clustered around 37 occasions where a drone or drones were seen.” Other reports state there were 200 sightings and police took 67 statements.

    Has a single photo or piece of film footage allegedly showing a drone over Gatwick and attributed to a named person been published yet? What about photos or footage identifiably showing a drone and identifiably showing it flying over the runway at Gatwick, even if not attributed to a named person? And what about some interviews with witnesses who say they saw drones flying over Gatwick?

    • N_

      Some cops in Sussex may be pretty pissed off. Were they told “just arrest someone”? Was evidence planted that gave grounds for suspecting Mr Gait and Mrs Kirk-Gait? Neighbours heard “screaming and shouting” when the police arrived at their home. Perhaps they’d read my advice to drone enthusiasts in the area to practise dropping what they were holding and shouting “I am not resisting arrest”, as Lee Harvey Oswald did in the cinema?

    • bj

      “there have been numerous illegal drone sightings”

      Aha!
      It wasn’t sightings of illegal drones.
      It was illegal sightings of drones.

    • Hieroglyph

      The drone story was about as believable as the ‘insulting video’ stuff in Benghazi, or David Kelly’s suicide.

      I’ve no idea what happened, but suspect some fuckery was afoot. Us mere citizens don’t know the half ot it, where the security services are involved. The UK is currently lucky that Trump is relatively mild-mannered – our messing with US elections could have gone very badly indeed otherwise.

  • Sharp Ears

    From Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union:

    Matt Wrack
    @MattWrack
    ·
    Dec 22
    We robbed you of your pensions….
    We froze your pay….
    We slashed your jobs….
    We ignored your concerns….

    But.
    Happy Christmas anyway.

    Lots of love, the Home Office team.

    ‘Quote Tweet
    Home Office
    @ukhomeoffice
    We would like to thank our emergency services for the incredible work they do – not just at Christmas, but on every day and night of the year. #CelebratingOurServices ‘

  • Tony_0pmoc

    I have no direct local knowledge, but I have friends that have.

    I belived the drone story at Gatwick airport – Reported as Is.

    The Press, sometimes tell the Truth.

    On new information today, it got me thinking.

    I initially thought No Way are The Sussex Police that Clever.

    However, they have not dicredited themselves.

    But they have completely discredited the Press..

    She said to me, that there is stuff going on, that you do not know about, where I live ( near Gatwick Airport.).

    If true, then I think The Sussex Police may have done A Brilliant Job. Almost a Reverse Psyop.

    They have completely discredited The Daliy Mail.

    And I suggest MI5/ MI6, The Mossad and The CIA – Do not Fck with the Sussex Police.

    I said you are fckin joking – and she smiled at me.

    She always reminds me of my Ex.

    They were not amused at the Skripal Bollocks MKII.

    Tony

  • Captain Bluntschli

    A cursory observation:

    While Sky and BBc spew out crap, you can get real news from Euronews–apparently majority owned by an Egyptian–who would’ve thunk it?

  • MaryPau!

    Well I hope that couple at Gatwick sue the police for wrongful arrest. One of the most worrying aspects about the whole affair is not the assinine comments of Det Chief Supt Jason Tingley ( sadly typical of the competence of modern British police) but how the police got an arrest warrant in the first place. On what grounds? There really do not seem to have been any.

    • MaryPau!

      Seriously, how can the police arrest somebody who was at work at the time and then trash their house?

      Some years back my son was mugged at knifepoint in London and had his cash, watch, driving licence and credit cards stolen. Despite reporting it at once to local police and later giving an interview and full description of the muggers to police, he heard no more. He cancelled and replaced all his cards.

      A Year later a summons arrived for him at our house ( his address on the stolen driving licence although he had moved out 9 months earlier.) It was for speeding in a rented BMW somewhere in Dagenham a few weeks earlier. Only problem was that he was safely seated at his desk in New York at the time, where he had been living for the preceding 6 months.

      It turned out the original muggers had been given his driving licence, and someone’s else’s stolen credit card, by their bosses, for services rendered and used these to hire a BMW from the EasyCar office near Victoria station in London. The car was then caught on motorway cameras in Essex, speeding. I explained to the Policeman, from the City of London, who held the records of his original mugging, that my son was working at his desk in New York, where he now lived, at the time. It turned out that the records of the theft of his driving licence ,(and the credit card used,) were recorded on the City police computer, which had no interaction with the Essex police computer, where the driving offence was recorded.

      Nor did the Essex traffic police appear bother to access to either the DVLC computer or stolen credit cards lists. They just went from EasyCar records. And EasyCar did not check if the hirers were using stolen driving licence or credit cards. Mind you EasyCar cannot have tried very hard as it subsequent emerged that one young Somali used my son’s stolen driving licence (from year earlier) to hire the car while another gang member used a stolen credit card to pay for it. Both driving licence and credit cards were registered to young men ( my son and the owner of the credit card) with traditional mainstream English names. Not young Somalis.

      There was never so far as I know, any prosecution of the gang members as they did not officially exist but were here illegally. The City Policeman said they were just runners, part of a much larger organized crime operation operating between London and the Midlands. The surprise to me was how little checking anyone official did of official records before issuing the summons. Maybe if my son had left no forwarding address, a prosecution might have gone ahead in his absence.

      If the couple in Sussex want to set up a fund to sue the police for wrongful arrest, I would contribute. I can see no reasonable grounds at all for arresting them and trashing their house. This is a slippery slope. Modern police detection in the UK seems to involve constructing a convenient theory regardless of the facts and then fitting up the nearest convenient victim.

  • remember kronstadt

    Looking like China is about to get the world economy for their piggy, me too, new year?

  • Paul Barbara

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Craig, family and readers and commenters of this Blog.

  • Sharp Ears

    Season’s Greetings to One and All.

    I am just going out but saw this just now on the Parliament Channel. Lord Elton, now aged 88 and with all his marbles, was speaking in the HoL in the Centenary Armistice debate in November. A fine speech and some food for thought. He is Ben Elton’s father btw.

    http://bit.ly/2GDJPa9

      • Captain Bluntschli

        And what denomination, FoI etc etc etc

        What is a ‘Season’s’ greeting? Anyone?

        • Sharp Ears

          Sorry you didn’t like my greeting Habbabkuk.

          Sorry too to have got the wrong Elton. There are many of them.

          • Captain Bluntschli

            Everyone appreciates a greeting. We are just trying to figure out what the ‘season’ has to do with it?….

          • Captain Bluntschli

            Sharpie, the reason why one asks is (a) to enquire whether you are one of those PC (politically correct) extremists, or (b) you just parrot some crap that others use, including cliches, like a second-hand human being would? [Main point before the moderators get concerned is that *don’t expect the kind of political transformation that or host aspires to, if you’re either going to be PC or callous/lazy.]

            Am happy to clarify and debate should you want to. A little bit of sparring is good on Boxing Day. Yes?

    • michael norton

      It would seem Lord Elton is neither the father of Ben Elton
      nor Elton John,
      however his current wife is Lady of the bedchamber to Her Maj.

    • remember kronstadt

      Can’t say that the monarchy is an intrinsically bad thing – after all the monarch doesn’t get to choose. So long as taxes are paid onshore and moral and ethical values are promoted, the arts encouraged and supported can’t see a problem. Thing is, the irony is the monarch and kin are a poster family for the military but don’t appear to fight, die in combat, sleep rough or breakdown? Surviving on celebrity or playing toy soldiers clearly isn’t good for anyone and leads to neurosis like having your shoe laces ironed daily. What’s so wrong with science, medicine, education or social service? Most of the world lives happily enough with risk but nothing on the romanov scale.

      • Republicofscotland

        “after all the monarch doesn’t get to choose.”

        Really.

        Powers of the Queen:

        The power to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister
        The power to appoint and dismiss other ministers.
        The power to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament
        The power to make war and peace
        The power to command the armed forces of the United Kingdom
        The power to regulate the Civil Service
        The power to ratify treaties
        The power to issue passports
        The power to appoint bishops and archbishops of the Church of England
        The power to create peers (both life peers and hereditary peers).

        Lets not forget every civil servant and politician has to swear an oath to the Queen.

        • remember kronstadt

          “after all the monarch doesn’t get to choose”

          Neither you nor the monarch got to choose your parents and unlikely for a child to change them. If the people want to change the way they are governed they can – presently a majority just don’t want to or care.

      • Dennis Revell

        :

        That’s bullshit.

        The monarchy are a bunch of lifelong inheritable dole-collector parasites; Infestations of which the French and the Russians both once suffered until they found so-far pretty effective pest eradication methods.

        As Republicofscotland indicates Brenda wields far more power than the vast majority of people realise and that they would want the people to realise – they do try to keep it ‘low key’.

        – Ask the surviving supporters of Gough Whitlam and believers in genuine Australian democracy who know their history.

        .

  • michael norton

    Some court has said if the United Kingdom wishes to stay in the European Union, all that has to happen, is Mrs. Theresa May / U.K. Government needs to write and deliver a letter to the E.U. before March 2019 deadline.

    If that were to happen, we would retain out pre-Article fifty status.
    This would mean we could join in the Euro MEP elections in May 2019.

    If that happens, it is quite likely that a massive wave of Eurosceptic MEP’s from the U.K. would get elected
    but it is also expected that a massive wave of Euro sceptic MEP’s would be returned from France/Italy/Greece/Spain/Portugal/Belgium/Holland/Austria/Hungary

    have I missed any?

    • Radar O'Reilly

      True, MN, the May 2019 EuroParl elections are looking very interesting, I said before that I’m fairly sure that a continuing UK presence in EP is being planned-for, at least in Straßburg/Brussel, as a ‘plan-C’

      Remember too that the largest EP party elected democratically – gets to democratically nominate by convention – the new head of the ‘new’ European Commission executive (November 2019?). I certainly hope that in some bunker (maybe cabinet office briefing room B) the UKGOV is gaming post-WA with this ‘new’ EU executive and ‘new’ parliament, which could potentially include some very challenging radical ideas concerning the UK. I will follow with great interest!

      the exit nonsense, (which is right to consider & debate in search of national/tory inner-peace), has served to unify many anti-EU elements in the member states, so has had an overall positive on EU unity, but yes, some observers do expect a ‘protest’ vote, anti-austerity, anti-globalisation etc and potentially a massive change in the makeup of the EuroParl. I wouldn’t be so certain about UK retaining the pre-art 50 status, there might be hidden penalties for launching this (now fairly honest and factual) debate.

      I haven’t yet noticed any specific propaganda pushing any in particular radical direction for May ’19, but thats the problem with targeted psyops, unless you are actually targeted – you might not even know that it is happening. I do still have confidence in the institutions of the European project, they work subtly differently than their national governments, on a longer timescale – less fixated with being elected – which sadly remains the primary objective of the blinkered national politicians. Murky EU origins, uncertain EU future, true – but look how well they’ve tied knots in most British ‘negotiators’ and we still, just, have peace in most of the European continent. I still support the winning side, whist respecting the ‘losing’ side’s aims, whichever gets there – or will it be postponed?, I notice that my TV Radio hasn’t mentioned much exit related news for the last few days. Positively. Nice.

      • michael norton

        French PM meets with police attacked by Yellow Vest protesters,
        how about meeting Yellow Vest protesters attacked by police thugs?
        https://www.france24.com/en/20181224-france-prime-minister-yellow-vest-protesters-police-attacked-antisemitism
        Prime Minister Edouard Philippe visited a motorcycle police unit involved in an incident Saturday near the glittering Champs-Elysees avenue in central Paris.

        In the incident, during the sixth straight weekend of protests by the grassroots movement protesting high taxes and other economic problems, an officer pulled a gun after protesters kicked over his motorcycle. He did not fire it, but the move prompted a surge of anger by demonstrators hurling paving stones and other projectiles that drove the officer and his team to flee.

        • michael norton

          The police / gendarmes are only there at the goverment of Emmanuel Macron instructions, including the massed arrests.

          Six weeks is quite a time for protests to continue.
          Macron still seems as aloof as before.
          Bet he does not last twelve months.
          I also expect that as the French government have been pinning the blame of Austerity on the hated E.U.
          that France will elect more Euroscepitc MEP’s in May 2019.
          The people of France are in for a rough time.

        • remember kronstadt

          so stuff their mouths with, well not quite gold. the message being? not striking gets you a pay rise
          Gendarmes Union officials say the average monthly pay will be increased to £108 (€120) a month and for senior positions it will go up to £135 (€150).

          • Paul Barbara

            @ remember kronstadt December 25, 2018 at 13:55
            ‘..pay will be increased to £108 (€120) a month and for senior positions it will go up to £135 (€150).’
            Surely you must mean ‘increased by’? They can hardly be being payed £26 a week at present….

          • Dennis Revell

            :

            I assume you must mean increased BY £108 (€120) and £135 (€150) a month respectively.

            Otherwise if you can live on £108 a month in France, where the hell is my “Teach Yourself French” book?

            And au revoir!

            .

    • Republicofscotland

      “Some court has said if the United Kingdom wishes to stay in the European Union, all that has to happen, is Mrs. Theresa May / U.K. Government needs to write and deliver a letter to the E.U. before March 2019 deadline.”

      Whilst May and Corbyn, sing from the same hymn sheet on Brexit. Scotland’s Super Six +1, should them another route.

      https://www.thenational.scot/news/17276040.big-win-for-scotlands-super-six-as-ecj-says-article-50-can-be-withdrawn/

      • Alf Baird

        The ‘other route’ is via a majority of Scotland’s MP’s withdrawing Scotland from the union as it began, and the legality of this may also be tested in the courts; that would be a better use of SNP elected members time.

  • bj

    I wonder if Craig is able to shed some light on the following.

    In what way, if any, do the rights of Julian Assange change, and in what way, if any, do the obligations of the UK Government change with regard to Julian Assange, if and when the UK leaves the European Union (i.e. ‘Brexit’).

    Also — in what way, if any, do guarantees and promises made by the UK Government regarding Julian Assange still hold up after Brexit.

    • A Labour Voter

      Labour would do well to explicitly state a position on Assange in their manifesto for the coming GE, there is no need to sidestep the issue, 17.4m winning voters certainly know what needs to be done with Assange, even if at direct odds with the MI666 position. Its time for Jesus Corbyn to be messianic !!

      • Dennis Revell

        :

        Corbyn-the-Compromiser-Too-Far is far too much of a vacillating coward to allow a statement be made regarding any “Labour” Party intention to set Julian Assange free, or allow any such provision in its manifesto.

        Instead when questioned about it I have no doubt that Corbyn will hide behing the ‘skirts’ of the law – uttering some bullshit along the lines of having to follow the law as handed down by court decisions – specifically the one refusing Mr. Assange’s appeal to drop all charges related to him having skipped bail.

        .

        • Dungroanin

          Why should Corbyn have a say on Assange? He is not a would be president with any powers to use. It is pathetic strawman crap.

          • Dennis Revell

            : 😉 Try 2 minus “bad boy” swearing …

            Just because there may not be parliamentary power to do something – most probably owing to lack of sufficient non-Blairite votes in any future (though unlikely) Corbyn Govt. – does NOT mean it can not be part of stated “Labour” Party policy, or appear in a party’s manifesto, or even heavily publicised as a strong desire or preference of the leadership. An act of Parliament can free Assange and provide him with safe passage anywhere – such an act can be generalised to not even mention Assange by name – as a strengthening of the law to protect journalists, whistleblowers, free speech whatever; or just as a reaffirming undertaking that in future the United Kingdom WILL abide by International Law that protects those granted political Asylum, as laid out by the otherwise mostly useless United Nations- this latter not even requiring an Act of Parliament, just that the UK will no longer BREAK international law in this regard.

            Stop being such a creep apologist for this now good friend of Blairite War-Criminals. AFAIK there is still a majority of those who were MPs back in 2003 in Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet who voted for that atrocity; the deputy leader, the odious shitebag Tom Watson also voted with those War-Criminals for the Iraq atrocity. When Corbyn first became leader, every one in that category (15 out of 15) voted for the atrocity – Corbyn-The-Compromiser-Too-Far fired not a one of them for that reason, though later some were fired or resigned over their attempts to stab Corbyn in the back over the party leadership.

            Flirting even more so with the War-Criminal thing himself, Corbyn-The-Coward even allowed a free vote on the bombing of Syria. Out-fucking-rageous.

            .

          • Dungroanin

            So you accept it is not Corbyns personal decision – great!

            Then you explain at great length how it is not a personal choice HE can impose – even better.

            BUT then you yet again go ad hominem and claim Watson as the deputy WAS JC’s personal decision – erroneously on purpose!

            Are you that schizoid in your daily life?

            (See how easy it is to do? i withdraw the schizoid statement and apologise for using it as an example of what you do, no matter how apt)

          • Dennis Revell

            Dungroanin:

            Don’t LIE about what I said – or is lying genetic with you, or as a result of long practice – or may be both!?!

            NOWHERE did I accept that resolving the Assange situation was not in large part Corbyn’s personal decision.

            It is ENTIRELY a combination of the decision of Corbyn to make his position crystal clear with any act that a Parliament with a “Labour” majority may make – and failing that, just as now May decides on bombing countries WITHOUT reference to Parliament, then by the same token, a Prime Minister Corbyn should and would be able to unitlaterally declare that that “his” “Labour” Govt. will be one that OBEYS INTERNATIONAL LAW and on that basis alone free and provide safe passage to Assange to any destination he chooses. That is according to international law that the UK has already signed up to, hence needing no act of parliament but a single executive action made by the the one and only person who could make it, the prime minister. Naming no names, but only a complete IDIOT would be incapable of seeing this.

            I thought they had outlawed frontal lobotomies long ago, but your’s was clearly as stunning success. I’ll desist from profanity, as that gets my comments ‘nuked’ (though Craig Murray used them occasionally 😉 ), though patience is sorely tested when faced with not just idiots but also liars.

            .

          • Dennis Revell

            :

            In any case Corbyn-The-Coward-Compromiser-Too-Far is, were he a decent man, as you allege, clearly leading the wrong party – still replete, as it is with Blairite War-Mongers, and as you indicate unable to even decide on the major ‘captains’ working ?under? him – though as you didn’t manage to latch on to the point I made about a majority of 2003 voting MPs on his Shadow Cabinet having voted for that atrocity that Corbyn does have full authority as to the makeup of “Labour”‘s Shadow Cabinet.

            Corbyn should have had the decency,and the courage – which he clearly lacks – to be the Ship deserting the sinking Rat back in 2003 and joined up with George Galloway, and his Respect Party – who knows another eloquent voice could have made a difference to the fortunes of that party – the failure of which anyway I lay FIRMLY at the feet of the British public – mainly the inGRRRRlish public – who are seemingly despicably tolerant concerning the Mass-Murder and Serial War CRimes that its Government(s) commits.

            .

  • Sharp Ears

    Friends of Israel was referred to above.

    This is what they are supporting even in the lead up to the celebrations for the birth of Christ in Bethlehem two thousand and eighteen years ago.

    PCHR: Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (13 – 19 December 2018)
    December 21, 2018
    http://imemc.org/article/pchr-weekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-13-19-december-2018/

    • Sharp Ears

      The charmers. Cont’d

      ‘Israeli Forces Raid Towns in South Hebron Hills
      December 26, 2018 5:44am
      Israeli forces, on Tuesday, raided Palestinian residential homes and tents of multiple towns in the South Hebron Hills, east of the town of Yatta, south of Hebron, occupied West Bank, said a local activist.

      According to WAFA, Israeli forces raided and blocked the South Hebron Hills towns of al-Masdara, Ar-Rakeez, and al-Tawani, located adjacent to the illegal Israeli settlements of Avigal and Maon, southeast of Yatta.

      Soldiers reportedly forced residents out of their homes and tents at gunpoint and forced them to remain outside in the cold winter weather, while conducting thorough search operations.’

      http://imemc.org/article/israeli-forces-raid-towns-in-south-hebron-hills/

      To the background of the BBC’s hymns of praise about Christmas in Bethlehem and Mr Hunt’s plan to investigate the worldwide persecution of Christians. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46682411
      No irony there. Don’t mention the Muslims Jeremy.

      • Dennis Revell

        :

        Have all the Palestinian christians left then?

        (I know that the “religionist” (yuk, sorry) looks more “understandingly” at refugee etc applications, job applications, etc from christians than other religions).

        .

        • Dennis Revell

          Duh …

          (I know that the “religionist” (yuk, sorry) WEST looks more “understandingly” at refugee etc applications, job applications, etc from christians than other religions).

          Duh …

    • flatulence'

      Still in Portugal you bastard! No no no, goodwill and all that. *Crunches 2 more rennie and a lansoprazole*, where the hell are my pills? Damn envy is a toughie. Honestly though, Merry Christmas and have a good un.

    • Captain Bluntschli

      Glenn have you sent Hillary a Christmas post card? And strength to her elbow to stand against Trump next year….

      Happy holidays!

  • flatulence'

    Wishing everyone joy this Christmas. Love from me. Even you Bostik, I know you’re here, all the best for you and yours. (Joy not possible for everyone I know. Just heard that Syria is getting a bombing for Christmas. All I hope for really, is that one day we can honestly be described without the ‘dis’ in disgrace when we talk of the human race.)

    • michael norton

      Syrian Air defenses intercept hostile missiles launched by Israeli warplanes, over Lebanon, down most of them
      https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=154400
      Later Israel activated air-defence, as Syria struck Israel.

      It is despicable that Israel would do this on Christmas day.

      • giyane

        Thank God the ‘Word-made-flesh’ fest is over for another 12 months. It was a word from Allah which created Jesus/ ‘Isa pbuh . His title is kalamullah Word of Allah. He created him by a word in the virgin Mary peace be upon her as well. but then the dodgy dogma kicks in , which somehow seems to legitimise every dodgy dogma from the bonkers Tories , no disrespect to Her Maj’s speech, the dodgy dogma that when He created a human by a word , He somehow inserted Himself, with His Omniscience and Omnipotence into that beloved human being.

        If you can swallow that, you can definitely swallow Mrs May’s declaration that she is working for a UK that works for everyone. The original whopper of Christianity makes all subsequent whoppers seem quite reasonable. I could continue, with the whopper of the Israelis that He didn’t create the Messiah or anointed one, by a word , and all the subsequent whoppers that follow from that.

        But it’s too late. The season for talking total tripe ended at midnight and it seems rather inappropriate to be railing about it a good two and a half hours after the close of tripe time.

  • giyane

    http://www.voltairenet.org/article204453.html

    Thierry Meyssan summarises everything we need to know about Syria in 2019. It’s worth reading the whole article but here are the main points:

    “However, the transfer of Russian weapons of defence to the Syrian Arab Army, particularly the S-300 missiles and ultra-sophisticated radars coordinated by the automated command and control system Polyana D4M1, changed the balance of forces [4]. From that moment on, US military presence became counter-productive – any ground attack by pro-US mercenaries could no longer be supported by US aviation without the risk of losing aircraft.

    By withdrawing now, the Pentagon avoids the test of power and the humiliation of an inevitable defeat. Indeed, Russia has successively refused to give the United States and Israël the security codes for the missiles delivered to Syria. This means that after years of Western arrogance, Moscow has declined the sharing of control of Syria that it had accepted during the first Geneva Conference in 2012, and that Washington had violated a few weeks later.

    The consequences

    The decision to withdraw from Syria is loaded with consequences.

    1— Pseudo-Kurdistan

    The Western project for the creation of a colonial state in the North-East of Syria which would be attributed to the Kurds will not happen. Indeed, fewer and fewer Kurds give it their support, considering that this conquest would be comparable to the unilateral proclamation of a state – Israël – by Jewish militia, in 1948.

    As we have often explained, Kurdistan would only be legitimate within the boundaries which were recognised by the Conférence de Sèvres in 1920, in other words, in what is now Turkey, and nowhere else [5]. Yet only a few weeks ago, the United States and France were still considering the possibility of creating a pseudo-Kurdistan on Arab land, and having it administered under a UN mandate by the French ex-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bernard Kouchner [6].

    2— The Cebrowski strategy

    The Pentagon project for the last seventeen years in the « Greater Middle East » will not happen. Conceived by Admiral Arthur Cebrowski, it was aimed at destroying all the state structures in the region, with the exception of Israël, Jordan and Lebanon [7]. This plan, which began in Afghanistan, spread as far as Libya, and is still under way, will come to an end on Syrian territory.

    It is no longer acceptable that US armies fight with taxpayers’ funds for the sole financial interests of global financiers, even if they are US citizens.

    3— US military supremacy

    The post-Soviet world order based on US military supremacy is now dead. This may be difficult to accept, but that changes nothing. The Russian Federation is now more powerful, both in terms of conventional weaponry (since 2015) and nuclear weaponry (since 2018 [8]). The fact that the Russian armies are one third less numerous than those of the US, and have only isolated troop presence overseas, cancels out the hypothesis of Russian imperialism.”

    IMHO these global changes in the balance of global power make the pathetic shenanigans of the Institute for Statecraft over Scotland look like moving the deckchairs on the Titanic. Thierry Meyssan continues:
    ” The Bush Jr. and Obama administrations shoulder the entire responsibility for this [Syrian] war. They were the ones who planned it and realised it within the framework of a unipolar world. ”

    It is not just the political-military planning of USUKIS NATO etc that is premised on a unipolar world, the entire internal UK political narrative, the entire state education system, the universities, councils even down to childcare provision, is all premised on a unipolar world in which we are in a superior position. Since Thatcher our entire existence has been funnelled into a privatisation matrix, and this has not only failed us by crashing our entire economic/ banking system, but has totally failed to indoctrinate the youth with its discredited dogma. The youth of this country blare their hip-hop rebellion to the world with its international terrorist theme.

    Thank God, that the reactionary coup of 1978 of recidivist neo-Victorians has been superceded from outside our system where successive labour oppositions have failed to destroy it from within.

    • Laguerre

      Meyssan is not far off right. We’re looking to a Syrian victory now, I think. As long as the Rojavan Kurds are willing to remain autonomous under Damascus, Turkey will not go much further (quagmire).

    • michael norton

      “The White Helmets Activities in Syria”
      https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=154005
      Al-Jaafari said that Syria sent a total of 750 letters to the UN Secretary General , Head of the UN Security Council, the Security Council subcommittees on counter-terrorism and other international bodies since 2011, all of which are related with the activities and crimes of terrorist groups.

      Al-Jaafari pointed out to the negative role of the Western media outlets in misleading the Western public opinion by presenting the White Helmets as a humanitarian organization which carries out civil defense work, while the truth is it represents the media arm for Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization.

      For his part, Nebenzia said that the Western media outlets present the White Helmets terrorist members as humanitarian heroes, poiting out to the Western media outlets’ attempts to cover up the reality of this terrorist organization supported by some Western countries.

  • Sharp Ears

    Countering Brokenshire’s denial about poverty in this country. A letter to the Guardian dated yesterday.

    ‘All the impoverished homeless families struggling to survive over Christmas on the broken UK welfare safety net are represented by a family I met this week. Their nine-year-old son is partially sighted, has cerebral palsy and developmental delay. There are two other young children in the family: all three with their father have a British passport but their mother does not, may not work and does not receive benefits. They once had benefits for all three children but the two-child limit has cut that income by a third. The father’s income support of £109.10 a week is cut by the carer’s allowance of £64.60 a week to £44.10. They, with 54,540 other London homeless families, are living in the excruciating uncertainty of temporary accommodation.

    They will be given one offer of a permanent home, which they may not refuse. It might be out of London, be in disgusting condition, or move their rent from affordable council housing to unaffordable private housing, for which housing benefit can take their benefits over the benefit cap of £442 a week leaving the father to pay rent from £44 a week income support. The disabled child could be torn from the continuity, stability and care of the special needs school he attends which are so vital to his development.

    Rev Paul Nicolson
    Taxpayers Against Poverty ‘

  • Dungroanin

    Ho ho ohh.
    Santa promised me a election for xmas – all i got was some weird blue smarties delivered by post! Maybe i need to start spell checking everything.
    I didn’t even see the old boy and his rednose mate. Something to do with a no fly zone?

    Talking of no flies – i see from the huge swarm over Kings palace aka Groany Towers, that Harding has reappeared to drip more shit from his pores – barely reheated Salisbury steaming turds
    Also having put on my tinfoil after a few days of paper alternatives and mindless fun , there was a bunch of CT bulbs glowing immediately over my head, that seemed to tie up some coincidental happenings! It was a bit of a blur but i got the following:
    1. Trump turning the tables on his neicon cabinet and Erdogan by a PHONECALL. Syrian and Russian troops prepared to make their move. Belatedly so did the Turks. Genie Energy share price dived.
    2.The urgency of clearing the bodies before they become dead or worse pow, in Syria, rose.
    3. A quick and controlled arrival and dispersal of our ‘boys’ and ahem contractors – without pissing them off and with NO publicity. Even from random droners or tourists at airports.
    …. the drone scare was designed to clear any eyeballs – not because there were any drones?
    5. Get the msm on a witch hunt and total diversion – surely Leveson 2 needs to tak e place , completed and his recommendations implimented in full!
    6. Not a single mention of Statecraft/II in the msm – Cadwalladr almost melted her tweeter by ignoring it completely in her many many posts. ‘Paddy’ did one more useful thing for his DS masters and added to tge smokescreen! Hell even Corbyn got a story of his parambulations in his constituency which was undiaried!
    Bre… what…xit?

    • Dungroanin

      Actually the last tweet by Carole on xmas eve sort of poked a hornets nest – she referred to RT calling her out on II, by posting a photo of her young happy shiny self sitting on a street in Moscow, in the 90’s – without explanation – but extolling how wonderful Yeltsins Russia was!
      I kid you not. Anyway Oliver Kamms gives her an encouraging reply.
      Many many many others have torn her idiocy to shreds.

      On the illegal migrants crossing the Channel. Dad’s Army hasn’t been deployed, but it us likely that there may well be deaths.
      Of these who made it the media are always keen to point out the odd Iranian – and downplay the majority Iraqis and Afghanis, others escaping from the 18 years of western imposed peace and security.

      The thick as shit, Chindit trolls, unleashed to follow the thick as shit orders, are perhaps the dumbest soldiers I have seen since the charge of the Light Brigade – and there has been some mince since then.

      Understand boys and girls – following orders will not be accepted as a defence. Enjoy while you can or repent and blow the whistle.

  • Captain Bluntschli

    Does anybody know why Fred (of the Highlands) doesn’t visit here anymore? I had grown to like him, his cut and dry style, even though he wasn’t always right. Fairly grounded chap.

    Clarke, maybe you know? Moderators? (I may have missed it as my own visits have been few and far between.

    • Captain Bluntschli

      Dreoilin, I was similarly worried about you at one point, until i saw you dropped a line some months ago, which was good to hear. Hope you’re keeping well and you did get your macbook xmas present you were promised some years ago!

      Peace, love and happiness to all,
      V

      • Trowbridge H. Ford

        You can find Fred on the Squonk blog, but he obviously doesn’t like being attacked as a Scottish Unionist.

        And Dreolin has never recovered from dismissing me there as a complete nutter.

  • Captain Bluntschli

    “Japan whale hunting: Commercial whaling to restart in July ”

    Very glad to see this story is making headlines probably due to the slow period.

    I don’t get it: the Japanese have such a deep culture yet they can still, in this day and age, be such heartless bastards!
    ————
    How cleverly the haet of the Brexit debate has been cooled down and the pot containing Mayhem’s pig’s breakfast put on the back-burner. It would appear our politicians can’t chew gum and walk at the same time as our cousins across the pond would say.

  • Andrew

    How many of these organisations are there likely to be.

    Might the best way of finding them to be watch for their regular appearance in the Herald and reported on the BBC as a think tank or expert

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