Brexit has revealed further the rottenness of the British political Establishment, but I am still truly shocked now to see the Government of the United Kingdom negotiating a major international treaty on the acknowledged, discussed and now published basis that it has every intention of breaking that treaty once it is in force. Officially published by the Attorney General, no less.
The Westminster Government’s contempt for international law was fully demonstrated just two weeks ago when it repudiated the International Court of Justice – an act which is the ultimate disavowal of the rule of international law – over the decolonisation of the Chagos Islands. So in one sense it is no shock that they are prepared to sign a treaty with no intention of honoring it.
But what is quite astonishing is that the discussions with the DUP and ERG on how to sign up to the backstop and then dishonour it, have been carried out fully in public, and with the potential other party to the treaty looking on.
I simply do not see how the EU can now sign the Withdrawal Agreement which was negotiated with May, when they have been given firm evidence that the UK intends to cheat on that Agreement.
I especially cannot understand the pusillanimous attitude of the government of Ireland to this development. The UK has published in advance that it is taking Ireland and the Irish people for fools and has no intention of keeping to the Irish backstop. The reaction of the Government of Ireland is to pretend not to notice. That is an astonishing dereliction of its duty to the people of Ireland, North and South.
The more so as Geoffrey Cox’s “advice” is an unsubtle hint to the DUP, should the backstop become effective, to restart the Loyalist violence with which they were for decades so closely associated, in order to provide the pretext for cancelling the backstop. In reading this, it is essential to remember that this legal advice was written, as a matter of definite fact, directly for the DUP audience to try and influence the DUP in the next “meaningful” vote. To signal to an organisation as steeped in blood as the DUP that the way out of the “Backstop” arrangement which they so hate, would be to demonstrate it is having a “socially destabilising effect in Northern Ireland”, clearly gives a very direct incentive to Loyalists to restart violence.
Anybody who knows anything about the history and politics of Northern Ireland must be aware that what I have just written is true. At the very best reading, Cox’s “advice” is grossly irresponsible and reckless.
It is also very poor legal advice. Unlike Geoffrey Cox, I have actually negotiated a number of international treaties, including most of the UK’s continental shelf boundary agreements, the Protocol on Deep Seabed Mining to UNCLOS and the Sierra Leone Peace Agreement. Cox’s interpretation of Article 62 of the Vienna Convention on Treaties is complete nonsense. To start with, Article 62 is designed not to facilitate but to prevent treaties being dishonoured under the excuse of “unforseen circumstances”. It reads:
Article 62
Fundamental change of circumstances
1. A fundamental change of circumstances which has occurred with regard to those existing at the
time of the conclusion of a treaty, and which was not foreseen by the parties, may not be invoked as a
ground for terminating or withdrawing from the treaty unless:
(a) the existence of those circumstances constituted an essential basis of the consent of the parties to
be bound by the treaty; and
21
(b) the effect of the change is radically to transform the extent of obligations still to be performed
under the treaty.
2. A fundamental change of circumstances may not be invoked as a ground for terminating or
withdrawing from a treaty:
(a) if the treaty establishes a boundary; or
(b) if the fundamental change is the result of a breach by the party invoking it either of an obligation
under the treaty or of any other international obligation owed to any other party to the treaty.
3. If, under the foregoing paragraphs, a party may invoke a fundamental change of circumstances
as a ground for terminating or withdrawing from a treaty it may also invoke the change as a ground for
suspending the operation of the treaty.
Very plainly indeed, neither 1 a) nor 1 b) apply to the situation Cox outlines. Just not working out the way you intended is not grounds to dishonor a treaty. Social discontent in Northern Ireland would not radically transform the obligations under the treaty nor is social content the essential basis of consent to the treaty.
The second, and frankly hilarious, point is that Cox’s advice is demonstrably nonsense. To permit the dishonoring of the treaty, a change in circumstance must not only be “fundamental” it must also be “unforeseen”. Yet in his legal advice Cox foresees and specifies the “unforeseen” event that might lead to cancellation!
I rest my case.
It is worth reminding you – as the MSM refuse to do – that the Tory Brexiteers oppose the Good Friday Agreement, and destroying it is to them a potential gain from Brexit rather than a disaster to be averted. Remember this by Michael Gove, asserting that the British military option would be better than the Good Friday Agreement?
Ulster’s future lies, ultimately, either as a Province of the United
Kingdom or a united Ireland. Attempts to fudge or finesse that
truth only create an ambiguity which those who profit by violence
will seek to exploit. Therefore, the best guarantee for stability is the
assertion by the Westminster Government that it will defend, with
all vigour, the right of the democratic majority in Northern Ireland
to remain in the United Kingdom. Ulster could then be governed
with an Assembly elected on the same basis as Wales, and an
administration constituted in the same way. Minority rights should
be protected by the same legal apparatus which exists across the
UK. The legislative framework which has guaranteed the rights and
freedoms of Roman Catholics and ethnic minorities in Liverpool
and London should apply equally in Belfast and Belleek…In such circumstances, resolute security action, the use of
existing antiterrorist legislation and the careful application of
intelligence could reduce the IRA to operating as it did in the fifties
and sixties. Combining such security measures with a political
determination not to allow Ulster’s constitutional status to be altered
by force of arms would rob the republicans of hope.
It can be done. But does any Government have the will?
Interestingly enough, after I published an article on Gove’s 58 page pamphlet attacking the Good Friday Agreement, the Tory think tank which published it, the Centre for Policy Studies, immediately took it down from the web. I have, however, copied it to my own website.
By chance, my next couple of speaking engagements are in Northern Ireland. This is not the subject I was intending to discuss, but I never know what I am going to say when I stand up anyway. Happy to answer questions on anything.
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Oh Christ not more oil, according to Westminster Scotland’s too wee and too poor to be independent, this new 100 year of oil discovery will be a boon for Westminster but a terrible burden for an independent Scotland.
We all know what a curse oil is for Saudi Arabia.
“New Licensing Round West of Scotland to Open Up Supermassive Oil Fields Where 100 Years of Oil Predicted”
https://archive.is/Ja0Gm
Shetland’s oil.
A stupid smug little argument for stupid smug little Englishmen and their northern lickspittles. Two little words that expose the sheer malice at the heart of Project Fear.
Unfortunately the argument doesn’t work. Because it’s based on the principle that Scotland – the oldest country in the world in terms of its currently delineated borders – can be picked apart to suit the whims of English spite.
Fine. But if Scotland’s not a homogeneous unit, then neither is “Shetland” – it has never been an independent country in its entire history, and it has been part of Scotland for 500 years. So following the principle of English spite, I’m gong to pick Shetland apart. The 16 inhabited islands are all going to have to decide separately whether they want to be separatists or not – each one a little island to itself.
So what have we now? Sixteen little inhabited islands that have decided whether they want to be separatists or not. And a whole bunch of uninhabited islands that still belong to Scotland, as they have done for five hundred years. And they happen to be the ones that are closest to the oil fields.
So it’s Scotland’s oil.
Wow. Calm down fella. Did I touch a nerve? The Shetland Islands are overwhelmingly opposed to Scottish independence. Why should they labour under the yoke of Scottish imperialism? Why should they be held against their will by a distant colonial power who wants only their resources and cares nothing for their aspirations?
Shetland was only mortgaged to the Scottish crown, by the crown of Denmark and Norway.
In reaching your conclusion you give no consideration to how people in Shetland feel about their identity today. The fact is that most Shetlanders do not feel Scottish.
But in the event of Scottish independence, the number of elite families in Lerwick who’d have to be paid off would be small. I doubt they’d be much problem to square. Or of course a Scottish government could do what the Danish one did in 1946 when a referendum in the Faroe Islands returned a majority in favour of independence and independence was unilaterally declared. The Danish government just told them to shove their independence up their arses. (True story.)
Don’t feel Scottish. Could that possibly be because they have moved to Shetland from England and consider themselves English? If Scotland becomes independent, just because many English born people live there does not change the fact that under international law, Shetland is part of Scotland. Just as many Russians continue to live in Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania, and in some areas were in a majority, these areas did not become part of Russia. If even Vladmir Putin understood that just because Russians lived in these countries, did not change history or the fact that these former Soviets were never part of Russia just as the Shetlands have never been part of England. Why is it so hard for English nationalists or Scots apologists for English nationalism to do likewise? If Scotland has, an English nationalists would argue, no right to Shetland, how much less does England have any claim? Of course this does not deter English nationalists and their hangers-on, from claiming isles far from England, e.g. Gibraltar, Chagos Isles, the Malvinas etc. etc.
Old news RoS
The 2014 report revealed that reserves of oil and gas could be underestimated by 100% and that the West Coast alone could provide oil and gas for over 100 years.
” the West Coast alone could provide oil and gas for over 100 years.”
The only problem is we are supposed to stop burning oil and gas within 30 years. Don’t blame me, it’s not my idea.
Perhaps we could solve the problem by resurrecting Maggie Thatcher and getting her to flame off all that useless North Sea gas…
Oh but hang on. That would mean burning it too.
North Sea gas would have been burned off if hadn’t been for Tony Benn. The best leader the labour party never had. (Apart from John Smith).
Gordon.
The “John Smith, the greatest leader we never had” line should be tempered with the knowledge that Smith was a British American Project graduate. He may or may not have turned out to be a decent Prime Minister but the State Department had its hooks in deep. Reference the advancement of his widow and daughter. Deep state to the core.
@Viv and Gordon: yes, John Smith seems to have a better reputation as a socialist than he deserves when he was right at the heart of new labour from the start. Here’s an excerpt from the excellent ‘Rise of New Labour’ by Robin Ramsay: https://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/free/lobster63/lob63-new-labour.pdf
“…For whatever reason the policy review document on the economy was abandoned, and Labour began the long process of making itself acceptable to the City of London – even though the City then was only about 4% of the British economy.
Shadow Chancellor John Smith led what became derisively known as the prawn cocktail offensive, as he toured the City of London’s dining rooms in the years before the 1992 election, promising them that they would get no trouble from a Labour government.
In some of these dining rooms John Smith was already known: at this point he was on the steering committee of the Bilderberg group, some of whose regular attenders are bankers.
But this ass-kissing was to no avail: Labour lost again in 1992. Neil Kinnock resigned and John Smith won the leadership election, defeating Bryan Gould, the leader of the anti-banker tendency within the parliamentary Labour Party. My branch of the Labour Party was one of the few which voted for Gould. Gould’s loss to Smith was the end of the anti-banker tendency in the Labour movement.
Under John Smith, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown became shadow front bench spokesmen and were widely seen as the coming men. When John Smith died in 1994, Blair took over and NuLab began to form. “
actually, much of the excellent pivot to renewable energies , ubiquitous PV, remote Wind, hybrid & batteryized non-personal transports – the best scientific papers show that we will still use ALL the oil!
the use of it is just delayed, slowed – down such that it all still gets used over a (slightly) wider timescale. i’ll certainly be buying a plug-in hybrid as my next (possibly last) ‘car’
So how will we achieve zero carbon by 2050?
whoosh ….
/ducks as politics flies overhead/
but the science is that all that fossil carbonaceous liquid will still get used, but in less thermal applications. (thermal car engines , tank-to-wheel are currently ~10% efficient) thermal use for electricity generation is also dead, out by 2050, because ubiquitous PV is better & cheaper.
Scotland has one university, UWS Paisley, who still teach a nuclear course, so that puts that in perspective.
it will be interesting to get to 2050 and see what the Carbon-cycle looks like, it •is• a revolution, market led at present.
we transitioned away from a forest based economy in the post hunter-gather phase, so, maybe we can get Carbon neutral! (depends if alzheimers is sub micron emission particulate or just extreme gingivitis moderated)
nice article here on hunter gatherers still happy https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/ancient-hunter-gatherer-tribe-protects-traditional-forest-with-help-from-carbon-trading/
Never underestimate the value of being large and wealthy. The EU’s contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit are a case in point.
Sharp Ears
was asking if the Imperialism on Trial in Belfast and Derry would be Filmed –
Nine peace activists will be speaking at ‘Imperialism on Trial’ events in Belfast and Derry, later this month.
These two events will be livestreamed by the RT News Network, as have three previous events, last year.
The primary focus of the event in Belfast is the State, and the role of it’s various agencies; while for the Derry event, the establishment media, it’s propaganda and lies, and war on journalism will be scrutinised.
https://madhousenews.com/2019/03/imperialism-on-trial-events-in-the-north-of-ireland-march-19-21-2019/
Cheers and thanks Brian.
Can’t wait. Cheers.
At the Sun’s website right now:
Theresa May to ask for one year Brexit delay after smug Speaker John Bercow torpedoes third vote on EU deal
TWISTED THEORY Madeleine McCann cops thought Kate and Gerry had accidentally killed Maddie with Calpol overdose, Netflix documentary reveals.
The juxtaposition and timing may be accidental, but then again Kate McCann’s long-time friend Esther McVey has put herself forward as a possible contender for the Tory leadership.
It’s Revoke or No Deal. And this year’s Purim on Wednesday and Thursday could be spectacular.
Nearly all tomorrow’s papers lead on Bercow’s Exocet that he fired across Theresa’s bow.
http://suttonnick.tumblr.com/archive
‘Geoffrey Cox’s Legal Advice…..’ is neither here nor there now.
Exocets are guided and I don’t think he aimed to put this one in the water. I’m hoping it has hit her amidships or preferably through the wheelhouse window on the bridge.
Someone is WAY ahead of you AND Geoffrey Cox ie the letterbombs sent to various sites with a southern Irish post mark. Very unusually one of them was delivered to a Scottish address and it took the ‘IRA’ a VERY long time to claim responsibility for them, although, to be fair, a known code word was used.
This an other minor attempts (failed car bomb etc) have ensured that ‘Northern Ireland violence’ has again been reported on the mainland. Although why the everyday ‘normal’ violence doesn’t get reported on the mainland I can’t say. Perhaps THAT violence, where people are injured and killed, doesn’t tie in with the story they want to report. ie the continued lower level violence goes against the narrative of ‘peace’ achieved by the Good Friday Agreement but the ‘attacks’ which failed to injure even a single person fit with a narrative of ‘increasing violence’ as Brexit approaches.
The media, and the BBC in particular, are VERY guilty of picking and choosing their news stories. And especially in Northern Ireland. Why only now do we hear of the Bloody Sunday decision to charge one soldier when this has been ongoing for quite some time. And then, when we hear that the soldier in question shot an unarmed civilian in the back, then as he lay fatally wounded on the ground, shot him again at close range – we have Gavin Williamson (or is it Williams?) coming out and saying that soldiers shouldn’t have to face justice after this length of time, he wishes to institute a ‘Statute of Limitations’ As far as I know, in the US, which already has a ‘Statute of Limitations’ serious crimes (such as murder) are specifically NOT included. It appears he wishes to have a system where soldiers can murder at will, have the state cover it up and then when FINALLY there is a sniff of justice, make them immune from prosecution.
It’s not just that he wants to do this, it’s how they covered the story. Compare this to Hillsborough – justice delayed for 30 years and a single prosecution of a police officer. But no statement of support nor paying for all his legal fees and providing support. In the Hillsborough case his charge is to do with his incompetence leading to deaths, it was not a deliberate act. Whereas the Bloody Sunday case WAS a deliberate act, that is not in question nor is it in question that the civilian was unarmed, not a threat, running away, shot in the back and then finished off from close range while already dying. THIS is how our present day government regards Northern Ireland.
It’s almost like they actually WANT a return of full blown violence…
Williamson in particular is itching for an excuse to unleash violence somewhere. You get a sense he had a very troubled childhood.
Troubled childhood
Suburban mediocrity. Boredom. The search for a Buzz from almost anything. Then the discovery of the Buzz of representing the boredom and intoxication party at Westminster
Now he gets the toys for boys , boredom and coke which bored him to death as a child, and still have to pretend his narrow lot is interesting.
Thank God New Zealand has returned to being New Zealand again
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12214155
“On October 10, 2018, Royal – not usually a coffee drinker – entered Focal Point Cinema after drinking five cups of black coffee in a short period of time.”
You might say, uh oh this spells trouble. And you would be right. He then threw up in the lobby and stole bottles of water. But it gets worse:
“His caffeine-fuelled behaviour then escalated.
Royal began to drink from the bottles before squirting members of the public with water.
The manager of Focal Point Cinema then approached Royal who became aggressive, stepped towards him and head-butted him in the face.”
It finally took three police to bring the offender under control.
“Tea and coffee both contain caffeine (a stimulant) and tea contains tannins, which lower the amount of iron that the gut absorbs. Therefore, the Ministry of Health recommends drinking only moderate amounts of tea and coffee.”
With Gladio still unpunished, it is very likely how Macron & Co. will put a stop to les Gillets Jeune….a ‘ fausse bannière’ op.
on this note, the Luxembourg Press have mentioned that esteemed European Commission President Juncker will soon be called to give evidence in court, in a Gladio case, once his shift at running the EU is over, maybe in 2020.
The luxy chapter of Gladio famously bombed many bus-stops in the middle of the night, the odd empty supermarket.
Juncker tried as prime minister of Luxembourg to have Gladio step down from active duty – but they refused as they were not given the correct code-words.
Brexiters and gilets jaunes supporters go together. It’s the same Little England or (Little France) nativism.
Much better than joining the Ummah or a Worldwide Free Trade zone (for MNCs). Places without roots or own culture are places without quality, 13 a dozen.
They have unleashed the “black blocks” to discredit the Gilets jaunes”: https://twitter.com/Gendarmerie/status/1106910114479554565?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
For that Macron reacted with: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/18/french-pm-removes-police-chief-and-vows-to-shut-down-rioters
Was the Bercow Ruling a case of a “briar patch”? Or at least retrospectively. Much of the reporting up until the ruling was that the government was about to call off “Meaningful Vote 3”.
It wasn’t a case of “Please, Br’er Fox, don’t fling me in dat brier-patch”…and Fox then doing exactly that. But it may be a case of “My anonymous friends say I’m going to run into the brier-patch” followed by “Oh dear, you’ve thrown me into the brier-patch, wrecking so much”. We’ll have to hear how the government responds.
The Betfair market’s price for No Deal implies a probability of 13%. Unrealistically low?
Yes, well I hope it’s “unrealistically low”
I’m as sure as I need to be that a crash out gives a higher odds on for unification referenda in Ireland, than Mays’ deal, or Remain.
Long shot? Something more hopeful then eventual? maybe. But I feel that ‘No Border’, ‘No Backstop’, ‘No Deal’ is possibly a little more than a daydream with a catchy strap line…_
‘Ann Coulter: “The Only National Emergency Is That Our President Is An Idiot”:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/02/15/ann_coulter_the_only_national_emergency_is_that_our_president_is_an_idiot.html
Credit where it’s due…..
Ann Coulter said in a Newsweek article at the start of the US Global War on Terror that we should execute all Muslim leaders and force the rest to convert to Christianity. Spoken like a true Christian fundamentalist extremist Crusader! But more recently she said Trump should pull US forces back. I guess she worries that that war in Afghanistan has spread so far it risks blowing all the way back to the US mainland, and far from hoping to save America Ann Coulter is hoping to save Ann Coulter.
This article references her “kill them all” comment made on 9/14, just three days after the New York attack. I think Newsweek pulled the original.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/before-donald-trump-there-was-ann-coulter/419517/
Hi, everyone, it’s nice warm Tuesday morning in Russia today, seems like the spring is already here. Yesterday’s evening was warm, too, people took off their coats and walked in the streets in t-shirts 🙂 As I’m back to my hobby, I cherish positive thinking to welcome creativity and keep inspiration. But an entry in today’s Picabu social network just broke me down. Let me share it with you, sorry for the off-topic.
“5 years have passed since the Crimea has stood up under the protection of Russia to avoid war. But the Donetsk People’s Republic, was not so lucky as the Crimea, the war is still going on there.
– We will have work – they will not.
We will have a pension – they will not.
We will have the support of people – children and pensioners – they will not.
Our children will go to schools and kindergartens, and theirs will have to sit in basements. This is how we will win this war.
said Petro Poroshenko on Nov. 15. 2014
Children killed in Donetsk since April 2014.
Show respect to them, look at the photo, read their names. Count the age.”
https://pikabu.ru/story/chtobyi_pomnili_chast1_6582124 part 1
https://pikabu.ru/story/chtobyi_pomnili_chast2_6582140 part 2
@ Tatyana March 19, 2019 at 05:11
Who could not be moved? And we know who is directly responsible, the War Criminals in Washington DC and Langley, Virginia.
It is the same all over the Middle East since 9/11, each and every war and intervention based upon a lie. And the same in Palestine, still powered by the same DC/Langley crew, because without their full-blown support on all levels, Is^ael would not be allowed to get away with it.
But it goes back further, much further. As a Russian, I’m sure you have a very strong desire to know the truth about the two World Wars, and believe me, it is almost certain that you do not know the truth about WWI (and that, in it’s turn, with Versailles, inevitably brought on WWII).
Read ‘Hidden History: The Secret Origins of the First World War’, and ‘Prolonging the Agony: How the Anglo-American Establishment Deliberately Extended WWI by Three-And-A-Half Years’, both by Jim MacGregor and Gerry Docherty.
I doubt there is one in a thousand people who are aware of the information in those books, which turn ‘accepted history’ upside down.
If that information had been available during or after WWI, the world would have been a different and far better place…
Tatyana, yes it’s off topic but it is a useful reminder of the malign influence of the western powers in areas where they wish to sow discord.
I have copy pasted one of the comments (via Google Translate) which kind of sums up the feeling generated by the article:
“War is always scary. And the Anglo-Saxon scum can not calm down. Live by the principle – “Divide and conquer.” Because of these scum, adults and children are dying, cities and countries are being destroyed. Ready to go at all, only to seize power over the whole world.
Where they will not turn up with their democracy, war and devastation everywhere. …how many wars they have unleashed throughout the land. It is difficult to look at the photos of children who, because of the Anglo-Saxon reptiles and their puppets, life was cut short.”
I suppose, if you can somehow ignore the human factor, some would class this a propaganda, but is it the real cost of the neo-liberal agenda.
A tweet from Craig. 🙂
https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1107779931415740416
I woke up this morning to hear a new twist on Purim, as New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern declared that she would never utter the name of Brenton Tarrant. People might like to look at the blotting out of Haman’s name at Purim, including using “greggers”.
But things aren’t so simple. Ardern’s statement will be music to the ears of the more magically clued-in of those who seek race war. Whatever word or phrase is used instead of Tarrant’s name is likely to become a magical meme. Ardern is most likely a useful idiot.
As far as I know, nobody has yet written a magical account of Brexit (c’mon Dominic 🙂 ), although a lot has been published about the magic of the Trump campaign, the role of Pepe, Kek, 4chan “gets”, and so on. John Michael Greer’s work on “The Kek Wars” is especially worth reading – start with Hillary Clinton’s physical collapse on camera on 11 Sep 2016 hours after she denounced Pepe. There followed a wave of “This Shit Works”.)
Purim starts tomorrow.
The JP on Purim.
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Purim-was-saved-by-the-antisemites-583670
I don’t know much about it unlike Cast Lead and the Dreidls (Gaza 2008/9) and Hanukah.
Did we ever hear any more about Peter Wilding (ex BSkyB) and British Influence?
He claims to have invented the word ‘Brexit’. First I have heard of him.
Brexit’s my fault: How the word I invented could be an epitaph for the nation’s decline
https://news.sky.com/story/brexits-my-fault-how-the-word-i-invented-could-be-an-epitaph-for-the-nations-decline-11576816
I see Mandelslime there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Influence
Their website – http://influencegroup.org.uk/people/
Mr Murray (in a highly defamatory article) splutters: “Geoffrey Cox’s New “Legal Advice” on Brexit Incentivises Unionist Violence”
Interestingly Craig Murray, using a common MSM tool, omits to mention that republican terrorists (calling themselves the IRA) sent several letter bombs last week to addresses in Britain. Indeed, throughout the past two years of Brexit, the underlying threat, has been one of a return by republicans to violence. Seemingly any excuse will do. The notion of border checkpoints was the excuse this time (despite no political entity wanting a hard border). Murray also fails to mention the IRA bomb in Derry last month.
Instead Mr Murray, cites some notion of his that loyalists will return to violence. Just bite the bullet, Mr Murray, and get Gerry Adams to guest post on your blog. Your sermons on human rights and equality are a sham. Your references to the North of Ireland could be lifted straight from an IRA statement. Perhaps you could get a job at Panorama.
A new Ireland will be built on truth, equality and understanding. Bigotry and ignorance, which you commonly display, can have no place in it.
@ moonlight March 19, 2019 at 09:58
‘…A new Ireland will be built on truth, equality and understanding….’?
And Justice? Remember, the Squaddies were welcomed by the Catholics when they first went over, till it became apparent what there orders were…
And the collusion between the police, army and Loyalist militias? Shoot to kill? The FRU? Gibraltar?
Paul.
Frank Kitson and his Counter Gang doctrine, which he brought from Kenya to NI, did more to sour relations between the Catholic communities and the British security forces than anything else.
Throw in the MRF, which targeted Catholics in Belfast in the 1970’s which was based at Kitson’s HQ, and Para 1, nicknamed Kitson’s Private army, and its not hard to see why NI descended into a spiral of violence, shootings and murders.
@ Republicofscotland March 19, 2019 at 11:07
Bloody Sunday changed my life, and directed me to Human Rights campaigns from then on.
Before then, I had no care for anyone else – it refocused me.
It was a turning point for me, and i was no where near it, but working on a farm in Kent.
Paul, KItson’s phrase is “pseudo-gang,” not “counter-gang.”
Rowan.
Fair enough though it does mention both here.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/bloody-sunday-british-empire/
You’re right, he used both phrases in titles, too. Here’s one in pdf:
http://www.kalasnyikov.hu/dokumentumok/frank-kitson-gangs-countergangs.pdf
@Paul Barbara “Bloody Sunday changed my life, and directed me to Human Rights campaigns from then on.”
going by the causes you list, you appear to suggest that only catholics have human rights.
did you investigate the Dublin government knowledge of running guns to the IRA in 1970? Haughey and Blaney resigned from the cabinet at the time. Blaney said later that the Dublin government were well aware of the gun running operation.
Or the collusion between the Irish police and the IRA? e.g. the double murders at Jonesborough of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan.
Perhaps you’ve investigated the threats and cleansing of protestants from along the border, or from places like Derry.
You wouldn’t want to come across as sectarian in your analysis.
You might like to look at
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/03/irish-police-colluded-ira-troubles-book-kieran-conway
A new Ireland will be built on truth, equality and understanding.
An elementary first step is to finally end Engliand’s rule in Ireland and its antidemocratic, bigoted creation in the north. There can be no place in 21st century Europe for such colonial remnants. Fortunately the long overdue final Brexit from Ireland has been speeded up by the vote of June 2016.
Craig has never been known to ‘splutter’. Just because you don’t like the content, there is no need to be insulting.
Utter nonsense. A postage of 2 euros in packets that would cost at least five . They would never have left the sorting post office in Ireland. But hey, anything goes for the gullible and the opportunistic .
Scottish government rushes through legislation that allows people in Scotland to recieve medical treatment in the EU, and vice-versa.
“They will also allow Scottish residents to continue to access cross-border healthcare in the EEA, and will allow citizens from other EEA countries to access treatment here, as far as that can be achieved.”
http://archive.is/a0KJj
The Lib/Dems get down and dirty, spreading false allegations about Labour in Liverpool, the gloves are off.
https://skwawkbox.org/2019/03/18/fibdems-libdems-caught-making-false-criminal-allegations-in-campaign-leaflet/
Meanwhile the Great Satan, has forcibly occupied the Venezuelan embassy in the US. The forcible occupation of diplomatic premises is a clear violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The Great Satan is supporting the unelected puppet Guiado, in an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected president of Venezuela President Maduro.
Elsewhere at the kangaroo trial of the Catalan leaders in Spain, whose henious crime was one of holding a democratic election on independence for the people of Catalonia.
International Trial Watch (ITW) which has a team of observers present at the show trial, claims there’s a potential lack of impartiality. The court president they say, is limiting the time the defence lawyers have on the cross-examining of witnesses. It has happened on several occasions most notably when questions arise by the defence on the actions of the Guardia Civil during the referendum.
@ Republicofscotland March 19, 2019 at 10:53
Just as they raided the North Korean Embassy in Spain, and stole computers etc. Some of the ‘raiders’ were known CIA merchants.
And they way they treated Cuban Diplomatic staff in Grenada.
And the bombing of China’s Embassy in Belgrade.
It is well past time the world took down the US ‘Exceptionals’, and their Mid-East and Across-the-Pond cousins.
We are heading for WWIII, under cover of our MSM.
In Spain the Fascists are re-emerging – they really never went away – just like in Latin America, in Argentina and Brazil, in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
As the West under neo-liberalism turns harder to the right it has been clear for some years the climate is right for the Nazis to return. Only next time they won’t be speaking German, they’ll be speaking English with an American accent.
The wheels appear to have come off Ms Shaked’s trolley.
Israel’s right-wing justice minister samples ‘fascism’ perfume in bizarre campaign ad (VIDEO)
19 Mar, 2019
‘As Shaked saunters about in the faux perfume ad, she whispers in Hebrew “judicial reform,” “separation of powers” and “restraining the Supreme Court” – issues which she has made central to her campaign.
After spraying herself with the scent of “fascism,” Shaked tells the camera: “To me, it smells like democracy.”
International outrage over the ad has compelled Israeli journalists to try to explain its context to English speakers. “It’s a really tone deaf ad, but most of the descriptions I’m seeing in English are pretending it’s a defense of fascism when it’s not. She’s clearly saying she’s accused of fascism but that the policies listed in the ad (which most would-be translators skip) are democratic,” Lahav Harkov, senior contributing editor at the Jerusalem Post, tweeted.
https://www.rt.com/news/454174-ayelet-shaked-fascism-ad-israel/
I don’t think the wheels are off. She is reacting to the voice which murmured to her as she was coming down the stairs, about overriding the principle of the spearation of powers (which is a liberal principle, I suppose), and imposing contraints upon the supreme court. She is reacting by saying”they call it fascism, but it smells like demoocracy to me.”
It has finally dawned on the DUP that bribes should only be received in cash.
From the Spectator. “the DUP put out feelers to the leading Brexiteer leadership candidates about how they would approach this issue (continued regulatory convergence between the UK and NI) and were not reassured by the answers that came back.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg on voting against same-sex marriage in 2013, he takes the “whip from the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church”.
Tommy Sheridan telling it like it is.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hun3jPWgI8w
Oh dear it seems that the coordinated response of global leaders to the outrage in New Zealand is showing some strains and stresses.
The Prime Minister of New Zealand has vowed that she will never refer to the terrorist by name and urged others to follow her example. Presumably there has been an error in translation because in Turkey the nameless Turkish President has so far shown footage of the atrocity no less than 7 times during political rallies.
You expect world leaders to be in lockstep, it seems. Remarkable naivety.
Back to that old chestnut, the Integrity Initiative.
Response to Sir Alan Duncan’s attack on the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media
Tim Hayward, Paul McKeigue, David Miller, Piers Robinson
19 March 2019
In December 2018 we posted a briefing note on the Integrity Initiative, examining the documents that had appeared online about this ostensibly charitable programme funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). For an online article on the exposure of the Integrity Initiative published on 6 March 2019, Sky Foreign Affairs editor Deborah Haynes interviewed Sir Alan Duncan, Minister of State at the FCO. /..
Where do the interests of democracy lie? Working Group responds to UK minister’s attack on critics of the “Integrity Initiative”
March 19, 2019
https://timhayward.wordpress.com/2019/03/19/where-do-the-interests-of-democracy-lie-working-group-responds-to-uk-ministers-attack-on-critics-of-the-integrity-initiative/
BBC Radio 4 this lunchtime gave Jane Kennedy, who has resigned as Merseyside police commissioner, a platform from which she could help the Z__nist cause on Purim Eve. Employing Stalin’s “assimilation method”, she unashamedly associated Jeremy Corbyn and non-Blairite Labour with the prospect of future massacres of innocent people such as the one carried out by Brenton Tarrant in New Zealand. It is reasonable to suppose that Kennedy has worked for several years with the Community Security Trust, rather like Theresa May.
Kennedy was obviously lying about her deputy Emily Spurrell, who has also resigned. She was even allowed to speak on Spurrell’s behalf, which sounded very strange. The truth is that Spurrell says Kennedy made the wrong decision. I am quite sure Spurrell has not given permission for Kennedy to speak on her behalf.
They also had a piece on NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s declaration that she would not refer to Tarrant by name. Interestingly the BBC followed suit by similarly avoiding naming him. What next? Will they name a star after “The Unnameable One”? You only have to ask whether Tarrant himself will like this treatment or not. He is a man who paints the Nazi black sun symbol and who had “14” written on at least one of his semi-automatic weapons. It is patently clear that he will love Ardern’s approach. How will he be referred to if he gets to trial? “The trial of the Unnamed One starts today”? His name has become some kind of special-status intellectual property. The BBC had a professor or two of something or other on the programme to comment. One of them mentioned the non-naming of The J__ish tribal deity Yahweh in the “Hebrew Bible”, but he didn’t seem aware of the Haman ritual conducted at Purim.
I really hope Jeremy Corbyn minds how he goes this week.
There may not be much of a Labour Party left at the next general election – or even at the EU elections in the in my opinion unlikely event that the May 2019 EU elections are held in Britain.
Meanwhile Tony Blair’s pal Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Kazakh dictator, has died. I doubt that any journalists in the mainstream media will have the guts to call him a dictator any more than they did Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. Someone should put up a copy of “Godfather-in-Law” online some time, but anyone who does should take extreme care.
The anti-
HamanCorbyn operation is shifting to removal stage. The Diary Column in the Evening Standard is asserting that Corbyn is considering stepping down as party leader. Apparently this information has been received from “senior members of the shadow cabinet”.It won’t surprise me if Corbyn is out by Thursday, or at least flying towards the door.
Just listen to this:
“The talk comes as Corbyn has come under increasing political pressure over his handling of the anti-Semitism crisis and Brexit. [sic] Although a fit cyclist and teetotal vegetarian, Corbyn is known to survive long days with naps and takes days in lieu if he works on a Sunday.”
Many of all ages in high-powered and other jobs take short naps during the day. A lot of people find it’s good for them. Corbyn sounds as fit as a fiddle.
Might Theresa May’s recent throat problem have been a case of a “Viktor Yushchenko” job? That’s the thanks you get, eh, Theresa?
Even if they manage to remove Jeremy Corbyn they can’t remove what he’s done, and that is to politically motivate millions of people and make them see another way is possible. He’s not just a party leader, he rebuilt a movement the right thought it had demolished. That’s not just going to disappear. That would take dictatorship but probably too many are awake and active now for that to succeed.
I heard some of this interview without catching who Jane Kennedy was. What disturbed me was her seguing of the alleged anti – semitic views of Labour Party members in her area with the killing of Jo Cox as if they were in some way responsible for it. The interviewer of course did not ask the question “Are you suggesting that the Labour Party was somehow responsible for the murder of Jo Cox? (And not far right from which most anti – semitism originates) Kennedy then let the cat slip out of the bag at the end when bemoaning the fact that the Labour Part was no longer the place for a self – confessed Blairite. T
Crispa
Just as there is no bacon in smoky bacon flavour there is no antisemitism in Jeremy Corbyn . No truth in the rumour he will leave his job. All piffle from giving a person with nothing to say a microphone
Re the Jane Kennedy piece, Kennedy brought Luciana Berger into the issue mentioning that she had received anti-semitic threats, hinting that these had come from momentum supporters. Doubtless due to lack of time, nobody pointed out that the six people prosecuted for threatening Berger were all right wing Nazi types.
As I remember it, it was the presenter who asked Kennedy (something like) ‘are you suggesting that the anti-semitism in the Labour party could lead to Berger being physically attacked’, to which Kennedy said yes. Nobody from the Liverpool labour party was interviewed. I suspect that many oppose Berger’s support for Zionism in Liverpool. Unfortunately, the Labour party has supported the IHRA definition of anti-semitism, which means that according to that definition if you criticise Israel as racist you are an anti-semite.
http://azvsas.blogspot.com/2018/09/by-supporting-ihra-labours-nec-made.html
https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/working-definition-antisemitism
So much for the political impartiality of a Police and Crime Commissioner.
Jane Kennedy was a NuLabour MP and minister under Brown and Blair.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Kennedy_(politician)
Oh. I see.’She is a member of Labour Friends of Israel and was the organisation’s chair from 1997–98, 2000–-07.’
She is now the Merseyside PCC and has decided to put the boot into Jeremy Corbyn on BBC Radio 4’s World at One. She has just resigned from the Labour Party in line with Luciana Berger. She is even linking her perceived anti-semitism to the Christchurch attack in the broadcast.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0003czk 34 mins in.
The Corbyn naysayers keep coming out of the woodwork.
Jeremy Corbyn is not an anti-semite.
It’s all about Corbyn’s support for the Palestinians.
h/t The Lifeboat News.
Q. How does one obtain an invite to appear on WATO? 😉
.
In a debate on the Foreign Affairs Committee membership, Ian Austin MP Ind Dudley N, has just launched an unpleasant attack on Corbyn.
Austin was a member of Labour Friends of Israel until he left Labour to join Chuka’s little band of brothers and sisters.
Joan Ryan and Mike Gapes, also LFoI members, were nodding in agreement as was John Woodcock in the background. What a bunch!
The deputy speaker keeps telling them that the debate is not provided for attacks on the Leader of the Opposition, or a witchhunt, especially as he is not even present.
The atmosphere within the HoC is becoming toxic. All about Labour wanting Gapes and Austin off the FAC.
‘MPs belonging to the Independent Group are to fight an attempt by Labour to remove them from select committees.
A motion to eject Chris Leslie from the international trade committee will be introduced in the Commons tonight, and MPs will debate whether to oust Mike Gapes and Ian Austin, who left Labour last month but has not aligned with the Independent Group, from the foreign affairs committee tomorrow.
Sarah Wollaston, a member of the Independent Group who chairs two select committees, will introduce an amendment designed to block any such membership changes without the approval of the chairwoman and the majority of MPs on the committee in question.’
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/independents-fight-labour-attempt-to-kick-them-off-commons-committees-p90zrmm6w
You would not know that there are many more important matters of national interest for them to be discussing.
That session went on for two hours. The upshot was that ‘Ian Austin and Mike Gapes be discharged from the Foreign Affairs Committee and Conor McGinn and Catherine West be added.’
Ayes: 199
Noes: 134
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-03-19/debates/EFAF34C5-D580-4AD2-A9F0-A5AE7579313F/ForeignAffairsCommittee
For the record, these are the 13 Labour MPs voted against the motion to take Austin and Gapes off the FAC.
Labour (13)
Bailey, Mr Adrian
Barron, rh Sir Kevin
Bryant, Chris
Clwyd, rh Ann
Ellman, Dame Louise
Farrelly, Paul
Fitzpatrick, Jim
Hodge, rh Dame Margaret
Lammy, rh Mr David
McCabe, Steve
McDonagh, Siobhain
Murray, Ian
Streeting, Wes
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-03-19/division/1AACE481-8986-4FA8-BCA7-7B0792F173FC/ForeignAffairsCommittee?outputType=Party
John Bercow got bearded in the street by a BBC reporter this morning. (At least I assume it was a BBC reporter. This is from the BBC’s website.) “Are you trying to delay Brexit?” is an asinine question, but the questions matter little as the atmosphere of disintegration builds up.
@ Sharp Ears March 19, 2019 at 16:20
Bolsinaro and ‘Justice Minister’ Sergio Moro (jailer of Lula) also visited the CIA!!!
‘Venezuela Tops CIA’s Agenda for Brazil’s President’: https://therealnews.com/stories/venezuela-tops-cias-agenda-for-brazils-president
Doesn’t leave much to the imagination about where Latin America is going……..
The building of the Attorney-General’s Office was today invaded in London. Protesters were angry at the reduction in the prison sentence handed to a drugged-up drunk driver who caused the death of three teenagers. The sentence was reduced from 13 years to 10 and a half years. That was three months ago.
The driver was Asian. The three victims, as I understand it, were white.
Apparently the criminal was not even permanently banned from driving. In my opinion he should have been.
Smells like the EDL. Protestors were carrying a flag of St George.
We have a lot to learn from Shariah law.
I wonder if they are the same small group of protesters which one news outlet described as pro-Brexiteers? If so then what a lie.
Tesco and Sainsbury plan to introduce rationing, amid claims that supermarkets will run out of food within five days of a No-Deal Brexit starting next Friday.
Meanwhile “civil servants at the Cabinet Office, which is overseeing Brexit plans, fear that the measures will not be enough and are (…) said to be stockpiling bottled water”.
I can’t figure out for the life of me what logic most of these empty super market and pharmacist shelves scare stories are based on. The only way the supply chain will be effectively broken is by British Politician’s making seriously counter intuitive decisions (which at this point I suppose can’t be ruled out) in an attempt to underscore how terrible Brexit is. Customs workers at Calais over the last few weeks have been attempting to use the background of Brexit in order to score a pay rise by performing a ‘work to rule’ strike, which could be seen as illustrative of the disruption ‘no deal’ will cause at least as far as supply chain infrastructure. The shelves didn’t empty, the sky didn’t fall. 90% of customs clearance occurs in land electronically these days.
So I can’t wrap my head around the idea perpetuated in the media, and by lots of people below the line, that March 29th we suddenly close the borders and revert to the status of 17th century peasants. It’s classic scare mongering.
You say it’s “classic”, so when have you heard something like it before? Can you compare such occasions with others when preparations have been realistic and fears justified? Does such a method of thought get applied “above the line”, wherever that is?
There’s a clue in the article as to why the Cabinet Office disagree with you:
“Chemicals used to purify water are imported to the UK from Europe on a just-in-time basis”.
What’s that got to do with a work to rule, 90% of customs clearances, or the 17th century? Nothing.
The “just-in-time basis” reminds me of the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.
– “when have you heard something like it before?”
Dunno, I haven’t really watched the corporate media for decades. But the last time something like it actually happened was Blair’s first crisis; the lorry drivers’ blockade of the oil refineries in the late 1990s. All the Brexiteer-types cheered that on, too. The fuel stations ran dry, fuel queues formed, the roads almost emptied, buses ran on time for the first time in my life, shops ran out of certain foods, and then Blair called the troops in.
What a peculiar comment for someone so concerned about global warming. Surely you should be cheer leading for anything and everything that impedes the operation of oil refineries.
That food supplies are interrupted and people starve is surely a price worth paying to protect the planet. Or could it be that you are simply spinning a line to sate your own ego, and have no intention of actually telling other people that they need to die in order for you to luxuriate in your own moral purity.
Strange days indeed. most peculiar Mama…
L: Odd that you argue from a position of supposed concern about the environment and the poor, when you cannot say a single word against the massively corrupt Trump regime, which has utter disrespect for the environment, and cares so little about the poor they consider them a sub species.
Either you are stupefyingly ignorant, or a massive hypocrite on a truly Trumpian scale.
*irony* Loony, I’m morally impure enough to tell you that you need to die, just to cease being such a pain in everyone’s lughole. There, will that do? */irony*
You’re projecting like crazy. My intention is to discuss rationally in search of a strategy to minimise primarily human suffering, and then suffering of other species. You got a problem with that?
Loony, is no price worth paying to protect the
planetbiosphere? After all, we’re all dependent upon it. Or are you not? Or do you care not a jot for future generations?@Clark, March 20, 2019 at 11:06
I see you made a death threat against Loony and pretended it wasn’t a death threat by labelling it *irony*.
Clark, a death threat is always a death threat. Please stop doing it. The MODS should not let you get away with it.
[ Mod: We are capable of distinguishing between rhetorical devices and credible threats, even if you aren’t. ]
MODS
So it I say “I think the Mods should be killed because I disagree with them” you find that acceptable, do you? I don’t.
[ Mod: And so you demonstrate that you don’t understand the rhetorical function of irony, which is blatant in the comment you’re complaining about but absent in your own example. If you still can’t grasp the difference, you should consult a linguist. If the rhetoric has upset you, visit a counsellor. If you genuinely think someone’s life is under threat on the basis of an explicitly ironic comment, see a psychiatrist. ]
Stop being such a snowflake, BB.
@glenn_nl, March 22, 2019 at 13:02
Stop being a bully glenn_nl. It’s the standard response of bullies when they are called out – “Oh, I was only joking”.
‘Below the line’ is a fairly common internet short hand for comments sections, which I’m pretty sure you know? I don’t know what ‘method of thought’ you were referring to.
I also don’t think you understand just how many products are imported on a ‘just in time’ basis, or what that statement actually means in practical terms.
If you’d try reading my comment again, you’d see the point I was making was that last week we had upwards of 72 hours of delays at Dover-Calais due to french customs somewhat cynical attempt to score a pay rise from a political incident not necessarily related to their grievances. As I said originally, this could be seen as illustrative of the level of disruption no deal will cause to British supply chain infrastructure, given that French customs workers were carrying out the same levels of inspections as being outside the EU and customs union would require. So in that time, did you see anyone having to drink un-purified water for 3 days, or any supermarket shelves running down to empty?
So the work to rule strike is actually very relevant to the situation. You seem to be one of these people who’s very concerned about the issue, but doesn’t have any practical knowledge of it – the vast majority of goods entering this country from inside or outside the EU are never inspected by any customs officials in any form, and clearance is made away from the borders in bonded warehouses. The sheer volume of traffic means all customs can do is work at the edges of the system hunting for people who don’t comply voluntarily. So in the event of a no deal, the British government could easily announce a fixed term period in which we would retain current regulation and duties in line with the EU in order to reduce the short term pressure on customs and allow goods to still be cleared in land. Lets carry that thinking through to your cabinet office example (forgive me for not taking this particular cabinet as a stellar example of trustworthy public servants either) – water purification chemicals. If they’re critical to societal infrastructure, why would the government place any unnecessary barriers to their importation in the way? It also seems unlikely that one EU based supplier should have a monopoly on the global market, so what prevents us from purchasing from alternative suppliers and importing by other means?
There’s a whole myriad of solutions to most of the technical infrastructure issues (I have no legal expertise so the legal process underpinning withdrawal is another matter) – any government that actually sought to represent the democratic will of the people and wanted to make a success of the process could have made short shift of the majority of those issues months ago, but alas we have a bunch of unprincipled invertebrates at the helm.
Here there’s an admission that insulin is being stockpiled, enough to last for sixteen weeks.
https://mobile.twitter.com/DavidLinden/status/1107983803966984193
Why would that be an “admission”?
Very disappointed to see N_ fearmongering on behalf of the Establishment.
You’ll be aware of course of the EU’s contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit
Old notice at Dover:
“Fog in channel; continent isolated”.
The RT youtube Link for Tonight’s Media on Trial Live, Starts at 19:30 –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_4YZp0TTSU
The Information Commissioner’s Office has fined “Vote Leave” £40,000 after an investigation found it sent more than 196,000 text messages promoting the aims of the campaign ahead of the 2016 EU referendum and was unable to provide evidence recipients had given their consent.
https://mobile.twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak
Oh no. Unsolicited text messages you say? Let’s cancel Brexit.
And Cameron’s unlawful printing of millions of pro-Remain leaflets and delivered through every door that cost the taxpayers a large sum? I got one but didn’t read it so it was money wasted on the majority who voted likewise.