Back in the “War on Terror” days, the UK security services fabricated multiple fake terror plots. There was, for example, the 2009 Easter Bomb Plot in Manchester, taking entire front pages of newspapers. Gordon Brown as PM hyped it as a “very big terror plot”. It was a total fabrication, nobody was convicted and it eventually emerged that the trumpeted “bomb-making ingredient” the police confiscated from kitchens was sugar – in normal quantities.
The Great Ricin Plot in in 2003 was again kitchen obsessed, and the media that ran screaming headlines about the discovery of ricin did not bother to later report that the amounts the police announced they had discovered turned out to be the almost undetectable trace which might be found in any kitchen.
The propaganda was the purpose, all ramping up Islamophobia to justify the Western destruction of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. When the Manchester Arena attack eventually did happen, it turned out that MI5 had been the perpetrator’s sponsor and he and his father had been ferried from Libya by the British armed forces. Sponsorship of terrorism abroad is always likely to result in blowback at home.
The propaganda is now being ramped up again to promote the Islamophobia intended to drive public support in the UK for the Genocide in Gaza and a forthcoming attack on Iran.
MI5 Head Ken McCallum is arguably the most prolific and sustained liar in the history of the UK public service. He has not yet generated the deaths with his lies that Alistair Campbell caused, but give McCallum time for his Goebbels-like repetition to pay off. McCallum has a much more compliant media landscape to work with than existed a quarter of a century before.
I have to remind myself that my continued outrage at the destruction of millions of very real and ordinary people in the Middle East from 2003 onwards, to secure hydrocarbons for rich and evil men and based on total lies about Iraqi weapons, is something extremely vivid and fundamental to me, but the average university student was not even born at the time.
The myth of a “good” West continually self-propagates. The media distracts and obfuscates in a constant and prolonged process of attrition of the truth; it is tempting to believe that the Genocide in Gaza has awoken a public consciousness which may be a historic break of the system. But it is already becoming harder to access true news from Gaza. Fewer images are available as the murder of countless citizen journalists and the throttling of internet in Gaza takes effect.
Social media suppression of the reach of pro-Palestinian accounts and massive boosting of Zionist accounts are reinforced by systematic state persecution of pro-Palestinian voices.
Even as Israeli ministers openly proclaim their Genocide and ethnic cleansing of Gaza, European ministers continue to deny it. I am reminded of Harold Pinter’s great acceptance speech for his Nobel prize, speaking in particular of the lies and atrocities of the Iraq War:
This is the reality of power. Power does not have to justify itself. Power does what it wants, and the rest of the world is expected to accept it.But there is another reality, one that is rarely reported. The reality of resistance. The reality of people who refuse to accept the lies, who refuse to be silenced. In every country where the United States has intervened, there have been people who fought back – not just with weapons, but with words, with ideas, with courage.These voices are often ignored by the Western media, which prefers to focus on the narrative of American benevolence. But they exist, and they are growing. From Latin America to the Middle East, people are standing up to imperialism, to exploitation, to lies.
We are still standing up, but the lies keep coming, the exploitation keeps coming and the murder keeps coming.
Now let us return on to the arch-propagandist Ken McCallum and his latest invented plot. This is a biggie – the largest state-promoted terrorism scare for twenty years.
As usual, there is not any actual evidence. This straight propaganda piece from the Guardian accidentally makes that plain:
Of course, the weapons the police are searching for may yet magically turn up under the bed. I recall the search of Charlie Rowley’s house after the death of poor Dawn Sturgess. The police searched the home for five days, looking for a small phial of liquid, with no luck. Then it amazingly turned out that the perfume bottle had been sitting in plain sight on the kitchen counter all along!
That perfume bottle obviously had miraculous qualities and could materialise and dematerialise at will, because it had also sat undetected inside a regularly emptied charities’ donation bin for over three months. I suppose an RPG may yet materialise under the settee in the current search; when the British police and security services are involved, the laws of physics are frequently suspended.
As usual, Ken McCallum’s “five plots” last year had not resulted in any convictions, or indeed evidence, and in fact the claim was modest for McCallum – who has claimed that MI5 had foiled “twenty plots” since 2022. Even that was not his record.
McCallum reminds me of the man walking around St. James’ Park scattering rubber bands “to keep the elephants away”. When told there are no elephants, he stated “See, it works, doesn’t it?” McCallum has kept vast amounts of Iranian terrorism at bay in a similar fashion.
But, unusually, in 2023 one of McCallum’s fictional “Iranian plots” did result in an actual conviction, and I would like you to look at this one as a window into the twisted psyche of the security services.
In a crowded field, Iran International is probably the world’s dodgiest media channel. A Saudi Arabian-funded niche Farsi language operation, it caters to those Iranians who support Israel, support the restoration of a Shah and support Saudi Arabia.
As I said, it is very niche.
Yet this tiny media operation was set up with a Saudi investment of a quarter of a billion dollars. Yes, you did read that properly, 250 million dollars. Just where all that money really went is an interesting question. There have been persistent rumours of money laundering and of ties to Eastern-European-organised crime.
There was a brief period, after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, when the UK media would print disobliging things about the Saudis. In that short window, this article appeared in the Guardian.
Iran International, perhaps unsurprisingly, specifically supports a Sunni Arab terrorist organisation operating within Iran: the “Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz” – ASMLA. This is a Sunni ethno-nationalist group conducting armed struggle for the secession of certain Arab districts of southern Iran from the predominantly Persian and Shia state.
ASMLA has exactly the same covert backers as HTS in Syria: namely, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, Israel, and Western security services.
In September 2018 ASMLA carried out an attack in Ahvaz which killed over 60 people (ISIS also claimed the attack, but the two organisations are linked). Iran International carried an interview with an ASMLA spokesman which very definitely supported ASMLA, and where he insisted on ASMLA’s right to armed resistance and specifically claimed responsibility for the attack as a victory.
In an era where Western activists are routinely arrested for supporting “terrorism” if they oppose the Gaza genocide, you might imagine that this would be an offence by Iran International. But supporting Western- and Saudi-backed terrorists is not only tolerated, it is official British government policy, and in response to complaints OFCOM found that Iran International were entitled to interview the advocate of the right sort of terrorism.
So how does this relate to the single conviction from all of Ken McCallum’s alleged terrorist plots?
Somebody from Iran International has been convicted of glorifying terrorism, right?
Don’t be silly. Iran International is pro-Saudi and pro-Israeli, and in December 2023 it opened a second HQ in Washington DC with additional CIA funding. Remember they are on the same side as HTS. Iran International are the “victims of terrorism” here.
The conviction under the Terrorism Act was for taking photographs of the Iran International HQ building in Chiswick.
In December 2023 Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, a Chechen with Austrian citizenship, was sentenced to three and a half years in jail for photographing Iran International HQ in Chiswick, which was deemed to be in preparation for a terrorism offence.
The prosecution case was specifically that Dovtaev was operating on behalf of the Iranian Government.
This is the important bit. No evidence of any kind was presented in court of connections between Dovtaev and Iran. There was nothing on his phone and nothing from surveillance. He had not spoken to any Iranians or mentioned Iran.
The prosecution argued – and I kid you not – that Dovtaev was Chechen, which is in Russia, which is geopolitically allied to Iran, and therefore he was probably acting on behalf of Iran. That was it. It really, really was.
This ultra circumstantial argument is a reach enough anyway, but ignores several individual factors.
Dovtaev is a Sunni, therefore not aligned to Iran. He is definitely not one of those Chechens allied to Russia. His family arrived in Austria as refugees from the Chechen war of Independence and he is an anti-Russian Chechen nationalist and an Austrian citizen. He was actually wearing Chechen Independence gear when caught photographing the building.
The prosecution argument, that Dovtaev must be working for Iran because of Russia’s links to Iran, is therefore complete and utter nonsense. But it fits the official anti-Iranian narrative we are being force-fed. And it was rammed down the throats of the jury.
I might add that the evidence that Dovtaev was indeed casing the joint for some ulterior purpose was very strong, and I do not doubt it. But there was no evidence of any kind that it was for Iran, or for terrorism, as the prosecution alleged. The judgment is not published, which is why I do not link it.
That is the one conviction for Iranian terrorism for all McCallum’s false claims – and no connection at all to Iran was shown.
Which leads me to the only other actual arrest – though not yet conviction, until this week – in all of McCallum’s so-called Iranian terrorist plots. Two young Romanians were extradited from Bucharest to London for stabbing in the leg an employee of … you guessed it, Iran International.
Nandito Badea, age 19 and George Stana age 23 were arrested for stabbing in London the Iran International presenter Mr Pouria Zerati. The assault was captured on CCTV.
Now, you might remember that I said at the beginning that there are alleged links between the dodgy finances of Iran International and Eastern-European-organised crime? Well, the story reported from Bucharest is that the defendants admit to the stabbing but say it was a warning with regard to a business debt. Which, when you think about it, makes far more sense. The CCTV shows that the attackers could have killed the victim, but stabbed him in the leg instead. That is a gangland warning, not a state operation.
The notion that Iran is hiring random teenage Romanians to slightly wound people is a nonsense. Furthermore, does not the “business dispute” narrative make infinitely more sense in the case of Dovtaev, who had no links to Iran? The gangster scenario would fully explain why he would keep his lips firmly sealed about who really hired him and what he was doing, even at the cost of a harsher “terrorism” sentence.
So that is all the concrete evidence, or lack of it, in existence about McCallum’s multiple Iranian terrorist plots. This is now, of course, augmented by this new screamed narrative about a planned Iranian attack on the Israeli Embassy in London.
As the Gaza genocide proceeds, you could write a long essay about the ethics of attacking an Israeli Embassy (and Israel has not shown restraint in attacking other nations’ diplomatic premises, but I shall let that pass as not relevant to the current case).
You have to ask, “cui bono?”. Iran has shown tremendous restraint in avoiding being dragged into a wide war over Gaza in face of continued attacks, and is in the midst of a tense negotiating process over its nuclear programme. The idea that, at this moment, it would attack the Israeli Embassy in London is crazed.
However, the narrative very strongly serves the UK interest, as support for the Genocide in Gaza dwindles further, especially among Labour Party supporters, and of course such an attack, or even the allegation of a planned attack, also boosts the perpetual Israeli narrative of victimhood. MI5’s arrangement of this fake plot now is totally predictable; in fact I have been predicting false-flag operations since the genocide started.
My guess is that there is probably an agent provocateur operation at the base of this, where some poor young men have been entrapped into agreeing with wild statements or a fantasy plan. Alternatively, as usual it will prove to be a complete propaganda invention to influence public opinion at a key moment.
It is worth noting that the United States has this last few days currently concentrated four B-52 and six B-2 bombers on Diego Garcia. This is an extremely rare concentration and indicates preparedness for a major operation; Iran is the most likely target. This kind of force is very much greater than anything deployed against Yemen to date. This anti-Iranian propaganda is not being ramped up right now to no purpose.
———————————
My reporting and advocacy work has no source of finance at all other than your contributions to keep us going. We get nothing from any state nor any billionaire.
Anybody is welcome to republish and reuse, including in translation.
Because some people wish an alternative to PayPal, I have set up new methods of payment including a Patreon account and a Substack account if you wish to subscribe that way. The content will be the same as you get on this blog. Substack has the advantage of overcoming social media suppression by emailing you direct every time I post. You can if you wish subscribe free to Substack and use the email notifications as a trigger to come for this blog and read the articles for free. I am determined to maintain free access for those who cannot afford a subscription.
Click HERE TO DONATE if you do not see the Donate button above
Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.
Choose subscription amount from dropdown box:
PayPal address for one-off donations: [email protected]
Alternatively by bank transfer or standing order:
Account name
MURRAY CJ
Account number 3 2 1 5 0 9 6 2
Sort code 6 0 – 4 0 – 0 5
IBAN GB98NWBK60400532150962
BIC NWBKGB2L
Bank address NatWest, PO Box 414, 38 Strand, London, WC2H 5JB
Bitcoin: bc1q3sdm60rshynxtvfnkhhqjn83vk3e3nyw78cjx9
Ethereum/ERC-20: 0x764a6054783e86C321Cb8208442477d24834861a
I never believed that there was a new political consciousness developing in the west over ther Gaza Genocide.
Most people sympathise with the Palestinians and think that israel has “gone too far”, and that’s about it. They have no clue just how evil israel truly is, and they are igorant as all fuck about Syria and Ukraine, my God, Ukraine, just listening to people talk about that raises my blood pressure.
People are so ignorant in this country that I hate them sometimes, I really do.
I couldn’t finish this article, it made me too angry because NOBODY will read anything like this and get a glimpse of the truth. I’m just getting it off my chest.
Rowan Heath
May 13, 2025 at 07:54
What do you believe that “ignorant” English people fail to understand about Ukraine?
TBF Syria is a more complicated situation but Ukraine is a straightforward example of the invasion of a sovereign state by its larger neighbour.
Do you disagree?
PS I’m not English and am not “ignorant”.
Then, you’re obviously here as an outsider. But still welcomed, as long as you don’t ‘hate’ people who may differ in opinions.
Not everybody can have an opinion…
Melrose
May 13, 2025 at 20:51
Thanks Melrose.
How do I become an insider? 😇
It would probably take a few steps you’re not willing to take …
Au contraire, “Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one but they think each others stink.”
My pinkie tells me you borrowed this enlightening statement from a former commenter currently banned from this blog…
“TBF Syria is a more complicated situation but Ukraine is a straightforward example of the invasion of a sovereign state by its larger neighbour.”
Only from where you’re standing.
Bayard
May 13, 2025 at 22:20
Bayard, then how would you characterise the uninvited incursion of (?) 200,000 Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022?
An error in compass reading? (E and W are so easy to confuse.)
An invasion, but not a straightforward example of one by one sovereign state by another larger one. For that, you need to look at Iraq or Afghanistan.
US/UK/Europe with to conquer and plunder Russia, and they are using the Nazi regime in Ukraine as a battering ram to that end, in order to destablize Russia, overthrow the Putin regime, install a compliant regime, a-la Yeltsin, and loot Russia’s resources.
Feel free to disagree with my characterisation of things, but NATO has ulterior motivies, the “freedom, democracy, Trytant Putin” stuff is bullshit, self-serving propaganda.
I don’t know what country you live in, but belive me, people in the UK are brainwashed and ignorant as fuck about everyting, the Middle East not least of all.
Why are Nato/US/EU so OBSESSED about Ukraine? What is in it for them?
Freedom and democracy? Or are we living in the real world?
You don’t know the UK. People are stupid as fuck here. I’m not a genius, but i question people’s motives and I don’t succumb to the propanagna of the day
I thought it was Ukraine that was getting ‘battered’ now you’re telling us it’s the other way around?
Who ‘wants peace’?
“2019 RAND Paper . . .
As far back as 2019, US Army-commissioned studies examined different means to provoke and antagonize Russia who they acknowledged sought to avoid conflict. “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqVPM0KSUpo&t=5s
https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3063.html
A rider to the RAND paper:-
Editor’s Note, September 2022: We encourage you to explore this report and its accompanying research brief. However, because Russian entities and individuals sympathetic to Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine have mischaracterized this research in recent weeks, we also encourage you to explore this helpful resource on Russia’s “firehose of falsehood” approach to propaganda and our research on “Truth Decay,” which is a phenomenon that is driven in part by the spread of disinformation.
Rowan Heath
May 14, 2025 at 00:49
Thanks Rowan.
To answer one of your points. You asked “Why are Nato/US/EU so OBSESSED about Ukraine? What is in it for them?”.
One answer: the tyrannical (yes) Putin regime has launched the first major war in Europe since WW2.
I would note that your rhetorical question “What’s in it for them?” is cynical. Most people (voters) in Europe oppose the brutal invasion and occupation of parts of E Ukraine. It isn’t surprising that their elected leaders echo that opposition.
Er, Yugoslavia?
A.Cheale.
Touche!
Lets not forget the Gladio Operations.
”Most people (voters) in Europe oppose the brutal invasion and occupation of parts of E Ukraine.”
That word ‘brutal’ is mandatory in NATOspeak of course.
One problem for the European voter is that he/she seems unaware that the majority of the population in eastern Ukraine does not feel itself to be occupied. This is a matter of voting record, an election in which the Ukrainian government threatened death on those who took part and fired a few rockets at voting booths. (All in the name of democracy no doubt.)
So do the European voters in London, Paris and Berlin know what is best for the eastern Ukrainians? Will they continue to support the notion of the Azov battalions (since renamed due to their appalling atrocities) ‘liberating’ these territories against the wishes of the majority?
david warriston.
Yes its all in the wording, brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia – Israel defending itself against Hamas terrorists.
NK, an evil dictatorship – Saudi Arabia, man I love MBS – said Trump recently on a visit there.
” the majority of the population in eastern Ukraine does not feel itself to be occupied. ”
You’ve been and asked them have you? Although a majority in eastern Ukraine might have Russian as a first language that does mean they support Russia or want to be ruled direct from Moscow. The election (referendum) of which you speak was carried out at gunpoint with no international observers amid widespread allegations of ballot stuffing.
If you don’t think the invasion is brutal explain the reported death tolls and reports of oppression, rape, torture and other atrocities. The UN has counted over 12,000 civilian deaths since 2022 and acknowledges that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
When an election goes against the wishes of the west then allegations of intimidation and ballot stuffing are routine. As a resident of Glenrothes who voted in the 2008 by-election I need no lectures on ballot stuffing. That was the election both sides acknowledged was too close to call on the day but which was won fairly comfortably by Labour, much to the relief of neighbouring MP and then PM Gordon Brown who was busy baling out the western banking system at the time. The marked electoral roll was subsequently thrown out by mistake, preventing party activists examining who had actually turned out to vote.
Holding an election during conflict is far from ideal, which is good news for acting president Zelensky. This is his excuse for clinging on to power. But If President Putin, who is of course elected, had not held an election then he would have been condemned as a dictator of the Donbas. He would be damned either way so has long since learned to ignore western commentators. How the international observers who were denied entry to the voting can at the same time claim there was intimidation taking place is a piece of Schrodinger logic.
As for brutality, you would have to ask the citizens whether they preferred the policing offered by the Azov battalions or the Russian military. The best information we have at present, and until there is a contrary vote, is that they prefer the latter.
“If you don’t think the invasion is brutal explain the reported death tolls and reports of oppression, rape, torture and other atrocities. ”
“Reported” not “confirmed”. I think that explains it adequately.
“The UN has counted over 12,000 civilian deaths since 2022 and acknowledges that this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
How many of these were killed by Ukranian forces? The truth is that the Russians seem to be going out of their way to minimise civilian casualties, given the relatively few cases that the Ukranians report and compared to the number that, up to now, one would expect in a war of this kind, if Iraq and Afghanistan are taken as examples. Indeed it is accepted that the Russo-Ukranian War is the first major war since WWI where military casualties outnumber civilian ones.
This is all right weird, and reading the comments, mindboggling.. If the secret service persons (who allow all this secret knowledge out into the public domain) were to read the comments, they would be laughing their heads off. Maybe that explains their strange behaviour,.
However, apart from the fact that there are many layers of influence at work everywhere, with each layer controlling those below it and being controlled from above, there are competing influences on every level, and the lower the level of influence, the more competition and confusion and people being at odds with one another. It’s no wonder social democracy is heading for the abyss, It’s a game of chicken. Who will give up struggling against power-over and who will ultimately win? Maybe those who struggle will all win. The losers are certainly they who never struggle, except where they can rise above the fray. Due to the good life, in the West, people have gone soft in the head and hardened their hearts. The welfare state in the West was largely won by the trade unions-a real struggle. When its cadres were neutralised, the way was open for the neo-feudalist globalists to resume trying to gain total control. This will not work due to competing interests at that level and the reigning paradigm being at the end of its lifetime. Many have, belatedly, realised that things are different now, but most still operate on the same old programming. Look at the way people who do vote vote. There is no alternative… to everybody growing up at their own pace, in their own time and place. When the pupil is ready, the teacher will present. When people are ready to get wiser, their eyes will be opened. As to conspiracy theories and conspiracies, truth is stranger than fiction and second/third-hand reporting. The truth is blowing in the wind. What a prophet Dylan was, and Nietzsche et al.
All is flux, all is education, all is now, in our day and age, politics ruled by geopolitics.
Fake plots? They are everywhere.
For those who doubt it, my advice is ‘buy yourself a brain’.
The aftermath is certainly a little more delicate. Labeling people is just not good enough. You need to be better…
Gary Lineker may be about to be canceled from the BBC, on Zionist orders.
Apparently he posted a link at Instagram to a video about Zionism. Both the CAA and the Board of Deputies have publicly called on the BBC to sack him. Nobody at the BBC will have the guts to disobey.
The BBC tells the story like this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39x0133e2wo
Note the headline: “Gary Lineker deletes ‘Zionism’ post amid criticism”. Soon it will be considered mental illness or sabotage even to say the word “Zionism” from a standpoint that’s critical of it.
What these people have to realise is that it’s never enough to say sorry, or delete postings, you have to do the complete goy grovel. Poor old Gary will soon be dragged off to auchwitz by the board of deputies, a la Musk, to look at some piles of shoes and ovens, whence he will return cleansed.
Never apologise to a zionist, they are all scum.
“What these people have to realise is that it’s never enough to say sorry, or delete postings, you have to do the complete goy grovel.”
Or extend an invitation to combine travel with pleasure. Why not, your career’s finished anyway?
There is something a little strange about that, as if he was deliberately causing offence and controversy. Whatever the truth behind Lineker’s actual post, however, the fact is you don’t get to front one of the BBC’s most popular and respected programmes for years without being someone the establishment are basically happy with. The ‘controversial’ utterances of most celebrities cannot be taken at face value. In the same kind of vein, I see Bruce Springsteen made a vitriolic outburst against Trump on stage in Manchester last night – in common with nearly every top American entertainer. Where were they during Bush’s atrocities or the covid lockdowns?
Sure but give credit where it’s due. It’s hardly as if we’re in a pre-revolutionary period.
The Torygraph and the BBC itself are reporting that Lineker will “leave” the BBC later today (Monday).
The British state broadcaster has obeyed the Zionists and sacked Lineker now for disrespecting Zionist genocidalists.
BTW what was the item about GAZA that he linked to? I don’t care what emoji he used when he linked to it. Calling Zionists “rats” is an insult to rats.
Has any British news organ even mentioned Gaza in connection with today’s Lineker story? Or would they get diarrhoea at the very thought of being so unsubmissive to their masters?
Anyway.
Not to worry the Boss of the BBC was issuing forth this morning about truth telling and the BBC’s role in it.
He called it a Societal problem as if the BBC is not part of Society, more of an over arching Watcher and Guardian.
Above it all.
I can say this though:
You have never seen an advert for a Rolls Royce on TV.
Why?
Because the name just speaks for itself – no further assurances are needed.
But the media in general is riven with constant assurances to their audiences that they are telling the truth.
The BBC being the main one that I watch.
Jeremy Bowen ( who should know better ) was on the BBC the other morning interviewing the
Head of UNRWA.
Near enough every word that came form his mouth were literally Israeli talking points and then he asked
whether the UNWARA boss thought that Israel was committing genocide?
The UNWRA boss diplomatically said that was the job of the International Courts but the Israeli policy of
blocking aid getting in was one for the courts also.
Bowen then almost promoted the idea of Israel and the US being in charge of who gets what on the basis of
” it’s better than nothing ” inferring that the Gazans should be grateful for Israel small mercies.
Now, this guy has been around a bit so, he is either asking these questions on his own behalf or someone else’s
behalf to try and gloss over the actual situation and lant the idea of anything’s better than nothing
to the viewers rather than dig out what is really happening ( or not happening ) due to Israeli policies.
This is what passes as truth and it’s a truth which isn’t so much a lie but more hiding behind so called
‘impartiality’
Francesca Albanese ( The UN Rapporteur for Palestine) was interviewed on Sky in a similar manner.
All the questions were framed in the parameters of what Israel says and what Israel wants .
She then intervened to point that fact out asking – what about the Palestinians?
What do they want and need?
This leads me to the belief that every interviewer is treading on eggshells for fear of
falling foul of The Israeli Lobby so they choose their words carefully.
You can not have truthful reporting on that basis on anything and at the same time boast about
protecting whistle blowers.
Of course for the BBC et al only Foreigners lie.
p.s. I’ve discovered a new form of Democracy or Dictatorship on here:
An Elected Tyranny.
That deserves a copyright I reckon.
You are right to highlight the so called independence of the BBC, I saw the interview between Bowen and the head of UNRWA amd I agree with your comments. I have also watched the series unreported world, ironically failing to report on the genocide in Gaza. So why is the BBC now sending out surveys to find out what we think about the BBC. Anyone with any interest in foreign affairs would discount what the BBC thinks about them. Such a survey, with its limited option of responses, can only confirm the answers that it wants. It cannot be trusted to come to an honest conclusion
Just today I wrote about BBC and their report on Putin’s suggestion for direct talks in Turkey tomorrow.
Compare the excerpt of Putin’s speech they’ve published
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cdxkl8wwgljt
And what was said in reality
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/forums/topic/ukraine-date-nov-2023/page/46/#post-104038
Pears Morgaine, I invite you to have a look.
Pete
You can add to people who should know better the Co – liberator of Iraq when the US went in after smashing the place up.
John ‘ No Spin’ Simpson.
No wonder John Pilger couldn’t work with these self important people.
Fact Check Joe and BBC Verify is another bag of self serving drivel.
They showed satellite pictures of Aid trucks near Gaza ( three in total ) which showed a full area of trucks – a dwindled area a while later – then none in the latest satellite photo.
Now unless the Magic Fairy came along and made the aid trucks dis-appear then the question for me would be:
A) This aid was delivered to Gazans.
B) It was nicked or not delivered by persons unknown.
Meaning that something made the trucks dis-appear.
The accusation by the Israelis is that Hamas are nicking nearly all of it and that’s why the Gazans are close to starvation.
I think they are too busy at the moment fighting the Occupiers rather than opening Market Stalls and high priced shops for Palestinians with money to buy things from for that to be anywhere near true.
Neither have I read about Aid Agencies complaining about not getting their trucks back after delivery.
So if I were these University educated reporters I would want to know as to who is this aid being delivered to if not the Gazans.
I have my suspicions and it does not necessarily involve the local criminal gangs alone.
It certainly is not Hamas – they haven’t got the time and access to this aid.
Of course if the Western Media dared to venture into Gaza then they might be able to ‘ Verify ‘ a few facts.
I suspect that their reporters insurance doesn’t cover them for where Israel operates.
Force Majeur?
B.B.C. – Stands for British Bias Confirmation.
“How can you know that I’m self-censoring?”
“I’m not saying you’re self-censoring. I’m sure you believe everything you’re saying. But what I’m saying is that if you believed something different, you wouldn’t be sitting where you’re sitting.”
This famous little snippet sums up the whole rotten edifice.
The BBC is the British government’s propaganda ministry. Its “independence” is bullsh*t, just as it is for the judiciary, quangos, universities, Bank of England, etc.
I stopped listening to live BBC radio broadcasts in the early stages of Covid for obvious reasons.
I do still listen to mp3s of its “In Our Time” programme, which are often informative and interesting if you tune out all the instances of “as it were” and “the way in which”, as well as the displays of rich white neo-colonialism. (There are more than 1000 online. If anyone’s reading this who hasn’t encountered them, there will probably be some episodes that you find of value.)
I have never had a TV set. I (very) occasionally downloaded contemporary BBC video stuff up until about the same time I stopped listening to their radio broadcasts. The trigger was a series in which they had a fictional middle class couple in North London going “Hey, that’s g-r-r-eat!” when their son aged about 12 decided he was transsexual. No outfit that puts out such insane cack deserves to be given the time of day. Since then, I’ve tried to avoid even reading BBC articles online. Much better to read stuff by Al Jazeera, Iran’s Press TV, or Russia’s TASS, because for all their many faults they don’t say it’s wonderful news when a child (in this case, fortunately a fictional one) gets severely ill. If anyone queries nowadays why I try to avoid reading reports by the BBC, I usually say it’s because I’m not transsexual.
(No insult is intended to people who suffer from gender dysphoria or indeed any other illness or disability.)
A BBC man talking about a “societal” problem…FFS. How is “society” faring under the tanks and airforce of genocidal maniacs in Gaza? How is “society” faring in poor areas a few miles from BBC offices whether in London or Salford, for that matter?
Oh please tell us, Mr Poshy Sir from the BBC. Make the conquest of India worthwhile, Sir. You sound as though you know so much about “society”. Did you learn it all on the playing fields of Eton, or have you had postings to foreign parts too? Give us some of the benefits of your undoubted superiority. Trickle it down to us. If you can pull your tongue out of the local hasbara chief’s you-know-where, that is.
One day these f*ckers, utterly undignified apologists for dictatorship and genocide that they are, are going to get a taste of Gaza…
“I have to remind myself that my continued outrage at the destruction of millions of very real and ordinary people in the Middle East from 2003 onwards”
You must be relieved that Trump’s recent speech suggests that he’s of the same mind.
“This great transformation has not come from Western intervention, or flying people in beautiful planes giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs. No, the gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation builders, neocons, or liberal nonprofits, like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Kabul, Baghdad, and so many other cities.
In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built, and the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves. They told you how to do it, but they had no idea how to do it themselves.
In recent years, far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use US policy to dispense justice for their sins.”
Of course, “the destruction of millions of very real and ordinary people in the Middle East from 2003 onwards” ignores the murders of Palestinians since 1948 and other western sponsored wars in the ME. Just saying …
“the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built”
Maybe so, but both when building nations and when wrecking them, they’ve murdered loads of people for profit.
A simple, specific example of our media in action: You may remember it reporting that Russia had launched two missiles at some seemingly random street in Sumy, resulting in a number of casualties. Valuable missiles of course though that wasn’t pointed out. We were given the impression that, like some cartoon villain, they did this for sick thrills just because they could.
RT gave a somewhat different version. The Ukrainians had invited their military top brass to an awards ceremony in a conference centre in Sumy. Their security was poor. Russia found out and targeted it.
Honest media would report this version. It should only take a few taps on a keyboard to get to it. If there were reasons to disbelieve it, they would tell us those reasons.
A free country would allow us to access media across the world without jumping through hoops. The Great Firewall would be confined to China.
Of course neither of these apply.
True or not, and coming from RT one has to be careful, the missiles ‘missed’ the conference centre and hit heavily populated residential areas instead. Thirty Five civilians were killed including two children. It followed days after another Russian missile strike killed 20. Perhaps they were at an award ceremony too…
True or not and coming from the BBC, Sky or whatever, one has to be careful. The trouble with them is that one also has to suspend common sense. It does look like one missile may have missed the target but the other maybe didn’t. It’s not as if “collateral damage” is unknown whenever missiles are fired.
In fact, it was not RT that revealed that there was a military award ceremony, but high-ranking Ukrainian officials themselves, I recall the name was Maryana Bezuglaya, who reported it, and spoiled the picture of “the villain kills the innocent for no reason.”
The military command simply gathered the 117th brigade for the award ceremony at one of the universities.
For such an unprofessional (sorry for the cynicism) organization of the award event, Zelensky fired Artyukh, the head of the military administration of Sumy.
The Washington Post also wrote about this case, citing a participant of that event.
Thanks for this Tayana. We can’t all keep on top of info from every source. Many don’t even try, then believe they are informed.
Well it’s on Wikpedia so it must be true….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Sumy_airstrike
Would it be normal to hold such an event on a Sunday?
“Thirty Five civilians were killed including two children. It followed days after another Russian missile strike killed 20. ”
Why would the Russians waste valuable missiles killing 35 civilians when the same missiles fired into central Kiev could kill hundreds, if that was the aim?
Real terror plots…
On the question of invasion by a larger neighbour I was wondering if Gazans spoke Hebrew and shared a culture with their invaders.
On the question of ‘unprovoked’ invasions I was wondering whether more than 1200 Russians were killed (to include women and children) in the Kursk incursion, to be renamed the ‘All-Kurski-flood’.
Has anybody seen any data to confirm the suggestion that Ukraine’s losses in Kursk were the equivalent to the entire men and materiel of the British Army!?
I’m very suspicious about claims of losses on either side in this war. Perhaps the most compelling reason is that neither Putin nor Zelensky are hanging from lamp posts. It’s not called a “theatre of war” for nothing.
Both sides are lying their tits off. But there has still been a horrendous number of deaths and severe injuries requiring amputations etc. I realise you’re saying if the casualty levels get really high then people will come for the rulers’ necks, as happened in Russia and especially Germany in WW1, but … it didn’t happen in WW2.
Putin must be quite jealous of Trump after the Gulfies gave him the red carpet treatment, the Saudis promised to invest $1 trillion dollars in US military equipment and other lucrative deals, Qatar promised similar and gifted him a 747 to use as air force one, but first it must go to USAF for it to be fitted out, after Trump has finished with it, the aircraft will be given to the Trump library, the clown has never read a book in his life. Not a bad deal the US made with the Saudis in the 70’s… you sell all your oil in US dollars to others and we will print billions of little pieces of green paper. All the Saudis have to do is invest all their money with uncle Sam and uncle Sam will offer you protection.
No wonder Trump and his team are smiling, Al Capone once said “you can go a long way with a smile, but you can go a lot further with a smile and a gun”. Trump also heaps praise on the HTS leader, who, fresh from slaughtering minorities in Syria has also promised to build a statue of Trump in Damascus. This guy is still a wanted fugitive, however Trump cannot claim the $10 million bounty since that was taken off several months ago. US foreign Policy stinks to high heaven, although Trump might say Ahmed al-Sharaa was a genocidal, bloodthirsty head chopper, but he’s OUR genocidal, bloodthirsty head chopper.
Mr. Law, on the contrary, Vladimir is presumably extremely thankful to his friend Donald for providing him with a very convincing excuse for skipping the negotiations meeting in Turkey he had asked for himself.
As Reuters puts it:
“U.S. President Donald Trump, on a tour of the Gulf, told reporters there would be no movement on peace talks in the absence of a meeting between himself and Putin.
“Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One before landing in Dubai. His comment seemed to further undermine the potential for diplomatic progress in Turkey.”
See, it’s the bromance that matters (and the big bucks involved).
So the cuckoo clock doesn’t even need to spread the Moscow rhetoric. Since January, the White House has done it remarkably…
He hardly needs an “excuse”, beyond:
The f*ckers won’t stick to any deal and we’re winning anyway.
Helpfully that happens to be the objective truth…
I guess the head chopping Saudis (AKA Sunnis) are just repaying Donny for letting them take over Syria with their ISIS cut-outs HTS. The stage is set for the attack on Iran (AKA Shias) that Donny has to deliver to Adelson. The problem is to get the Saudis to embrace the zionists which they cannot get away with whilst the genociders run rampant. If Trump can remove Gaza from the picture then there will be no obstacles to a Sunni/Zionist love-fest. Then Iran will be in danger. Just a thought …
Just what I thought when I saw those ‘Iran terror plot’ headlines. That was my thought about the Skripal poisoning as well – why would Putin trigger anti Russia propaganda by trying to kill a person of no significance just when he was about to celebrate a big sporting event in Russia advertising Russian openness to the world?
Especially bad timing since Russia knew beforehand that Yulia Skripal had left Moscow to visit her father. But beneficial to the western narrative since an innocent young woman (albeit one who had worked in the US Embassy in Moscow) made a more sympathetic victim than a former soviet double agent.
an innocent young woman (albeit one who had worked in the US Embassy in Moscow)
🙂
This phrase made me smile, David.
Working in the embassy of another country is not a crime or something condemned by Russian society.
Indeed not. I mentioned Yulia’s previous employment at the US Embassy (she was no longer working there at the time of the incident in Wiltshire) to highlight the fact that the Russian authorities would have been well aware of who she was. Her travel plans would have been well known to both the RF and UK authorities and her luggage in all likelihood checked thoroughly by both countries on both arrival and departure. Due to her family circumstances she could not be treated as an average citizen or visiting tourist, although the UK media was keen to present her as such.
So much for International law, the US did say if you prosecute Israel, we will prosecute you.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague has lost access to his email and his bank accounts have been frozen because of US sanctions, news agency AP reported on Thursday.
The agency said the court’s US staff have also been told they could be arrested if they travel back home, and that some non-governmental agencies have stopped working with the ICC because of the risk. https://www.dutchnews.nl/2025/05/us-sanctions-hit-international-criminal-court-in-the-hague/
On the issue of International law the U.N.’s humanitarian affairs chief held nothing in reserve on Tuesday at the U.N. Security Council as he unloaded on the State of Israel for deliberately starving the civilian population of Gaza.
“The ICJ is considering whether a genocide is taking place in Gaza,” Tom Fletcher said, “It will weigh the testimony that we have shared. But it will be too late.” With the Israel and U.S. representatives sitting opposite him, he demanded:
“What more evidence do you need now? Will you act – decisively – to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law? Or will you say instead that ‘we did all we could?’” https://consortiumnews.com/2025/05/14/watch-senior-un-official-it-will-be-too-late-to-rule-it-genocide-what-more-evidence-do-you-need/
TBF, it doesn’t matter what the ICJ says because it won’t stop the genocide – that everyone knows is happening – because it is powerless to enforce its rulings, as is the UN. On the face of it, only the USA has the power to stop the genocide, but they won’t because of their ZOG.
On October 31st 1946, the British Embassy in Rome was bombed by Zionist terrorists…
Most of the Israeli government from 1948 onwards were actual terrorists. Many brits died at the hands of the genocidal zionists as did Americans on board the USS Liberty. But, it’s okay because they were only defending the land they stole. Some things never change particularly the evil that is Israel.
Is this bit of ‘news’ generally known? – Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has had his UK bank accounts blocked. Not [only?] in America, but in the UK!
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trumps-sanctions-icc-prosecutor-halted-040328341.html
Of course, it’s the law, the USA/Israeli law that we must abide by.
Karim Khan should name the banks. Now. Today.
The general rule is “They Don’t Like It Up ‘Em”.
See also this:
“Microsoft, for example, cancelled Khan’s email address, forcing the prosecutor to move to Proton Mail, a Swiss email provider, ICC staffers said.”
Protonmail has Timothy Berners-Lee on its board. It’s in the same category as Tor (set up by the US navy) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (long a tool of big business).
Karim Khan should speak out in detail and fast. With “fast” being much more important than polishing the presentation of all the details. If Barclays for example have stopped him having access to his account, say so. Times are changing and this guy is being persecuted. Let’s call it what it really is.
The ICC isn’t and never was perfect, but it still is better than nothing.
It’s crystal clear that Karim Khan should speak out, but I have this funny feeling, if he doesn’t, there must be some double jeopardy involved…
So here we are. The Prosecutor gets persecuted!
Rather typical of the policies enforced by the Donald’s administration:
First they suppressed the Department of Education,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a student.
Next they suppressed the Department of Justice,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a convict.
Then they suppressed the Department of Health,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a patient.
Finally they decided to suppress our free speech,
And then there was no other left to speak up for us.
Reminds you of something?
Came across this article that reports on another false flag operation that is used by israel to justify attacking Iran.
“The July 18, 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina was one of the worst pre-9/11 terrorist attacks in the Western hemisphere, killing 85 and injuring 300.
For over a quarter century, the US and Israeli governments have blamed Iran for the bloodshed, citing it as primary evidence of Tehran’s role as the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/07/26/police-spys-testimony-official-us-israeli-amia-bombing/
Off-topic: Gwyn Jenkins has been appointed First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff.
This is the man whom the BBC claimed had suppressed a report that British forces in Afghanistan had committed war crimes; and had blocked the resettlement to the UK of Afghans who might have been called as witnesses to an extrajudicial killings enquiry.
Tolerance of war crimes starts at the top.
When it comes to war criminality, Starmer and Lammy are far worse than Jenkins.
Of course the BBC won’t mention that,. Not least because of its own complicity in the Genocide in Gaza.
In other news, the Archbishop of Canterbury hasn’t called the Director-General of the BBC “nothing but a lying c*** and chief of state propaganda” and the Chairman of the Bank of England “a moneygrabbing c*** doing a job for international finance capital”. Nor have the DG of the BBC and the C of the B of E called the archbishop “a hypocritical c*** whose only ‘gods’ are exploitation and money”.
I am not trying to be flippant. But the BBC not accusing the prime minister and foreign secretary of being war criminals is not just to do with the ongoing massacre by the Occupation in Gaza.
Why is the BBC suddenly hghlighting old war crimes in the forgotten occupation of Afghanistan?
Because they abhor British involvement in war crimes?
Or to try and restore public trust in a media organisation that is covering up and whitewashing the world-historic crimes of British ministers and the British Army in Gaza?
That Jenkins was rewarded immediately after the Panorama expose simply confirms the total impunity that the government and Army are enjoying while they participate in a world-historic genocide.
MI5 seem to be fantastic at stopping 53 terror attacks from happening in the past 11 months,[*] but not so great at preventing the cyberincidents that have affected the Occupation-supporting company Marks and Spencer (which has far too many stores at railway termini for my liking), the national electrical network, and the London transport system in the past few days and weeks.
Note
* These are totally made-up figures. I’m getting into the spirit.
Among Yesterday’s Pictures –
Two happy smiling Babbies – Murdered by the west
Two wee girls Smiling and Happy – Murdered by the West
Two teens fetching Flower Murdered BY THE WEST
So, the ‘Iranian Spies’ are charged with:
“… with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, namely that of Iran, in carrying out UK-related activities and knew or ought to have reasonably known their conduct was likely to assist a foreign intelligence service.
[And] … engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research with the intention of committing serious violence against a person in the UK.”
The person’s referenced are, unnamed, journalists who work for Iran International’. ” … an independent media organisation based in London.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04eze3wv5go
Not much meat on the bones of these allegations. One also wonders if ‘Iran International’ is a security cut out organisation funded by the government – seems likely.
It will be interesting to see what laws they are alleged to have broken. From the BBC link:
“Mr Sepahvand, of St John’s Wood, London is also charged with engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research —— with the intention of committing serious violence against a person in the UK”.
The first part about carrying out having a rootle around places of interest and open source research could apply to all of us and it is the second part that puts anyone in jeopardy of the law. So, it looks as if he could be charged with conspiracy under the Criminal Law Act 1977 as was some of the Bulgarians. We must wait and see but the !977 Law idea of conspiracy never had this type of situation in mind.
Organisations such as Bellingcat, the Integrity Initiative and all those Labour party and Israeli agents engaged in trawling through millions of social media posts to smear and slander people like Jeremy Corbyn are more than guilty of this sort of stuff, but I doubt if Commander Dominic Murphy will ever consider investigating them let alone bring trumped up charges against them.
Mr Sepahvand is supposed to have arrived “concealed in a lorry” – but now he resides in St John’s Wood. He’s clearly done quite well for himself.
In the dock he has been wearing a grey tracksuit, as have the other two defendants. That means prison clothing. Maybe all remand prisoners at Belmarsh are banned from wearing their own clothes if they’re Category A?
He came over as an illegal, hiding in a lorry, and within a few years he was residing in St John’s Wood.
Perhaps if he’d come over legally on a student visa and overstayed, he’d have married a British princess by now.
It could be there’s a lot we’re not being told 😉
If it’s based in London, “Iran International” will be friends with SIS. Put that at p > 0.99.
Whoever they are, I’d imagine they’re not short of a few bob. Payback might be in places at Oxford or Cambridge for their brats, or at top private schools if they’re younger, and stuff like that. Tickets to Wimbledon and Ascot maybe. Lunches at London clubs. Possibly a bit of way-smoothing where property and drugs enterprises are concerned.
It’s hard to see the specifics of where the British rulers are going with this trial. There could be all sorts of intelligence things related to it that hardly anybody knows about.
But it’s easy to see the general import, and perhaps its no more than this month’s “Are we doing OK? Is the cheque in the post?” message from the British government to
BBC Verifythe Zionists’ hasbara office.Note that they’ve been getting a “small boats” dividend from it too. Perhaps they’ll get a “subversion on the internet” out of it, just to make it a triple. It all plays to the idea that “This country is in danger”.
If there were any serious journalistic commentary, by those who understand something about diplomatic relations, the comment by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper that “Iran must be held to account for its actions” would be lambasted as idiotic. Why? Because if Britgov were serious in the belief that a foreign power has been running an operation in Britain to plan the commission of acts of violence in Britain, they would already have expelled one or more Iranian diplomats. And expelling diplomats is an action that has nothing whatsoever to do with the courts. But as far as anyone knows, they haven’t expelled any since 2011.
re: Assange
In the Forum I have put up a link to an interview with documentary film director Eugene Jarecki by VARIETY about the upcoming documentary about Julian Assange, “THE SIX BILLION DOLLAR MAN”, which will premiere at Cannes Film Festival next week, allegedly with Assange attending:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/forums/topic/assange/page/3/#post-104081
It’s hard to find any mainstream media reports of the 500,000 strong peace march that took place in London today, reminding people that 77 years have passed since the first Nakba (catastrophe) when 800 thousand Palestinian people were forced out of their homes, and left, carrying their front door keys, in the hope that their legal ownership of their properties, as officially established by the British Protectorate, would be respected.
Socialist Worker seems to be the only mainstream press outlet acknowledging how distressed young adults feel about Gaza, in that one in eight protesters today was attending their first protest march.
https://socialistworker.co.uk/news/over-500000-turn-central-london-into-sea-of-solidarity-with-palestine/
Meanwhile, chatting with a French friend who had recently returned from travelling incognito around Iran, I can confirm that people asked her to tell people in the West that they are not terrorists, and that their peace is heavily policed by the religious authorities, with gender segregation severely maintained. As an androgynous female she could pass as a man and communicate with men, while as a headscarfed female she was ushered into female only spaces, which were overwhelmingly welcoming and affectionate, but completely separate.
A German friend who took a coach trip around the great historic sites of Iran a few years ago told me how the women she met were highly educated and had good jobs in the towns and cities, often wearing only token headscarves, and travelling around in pink taxis, driven by and for women.
And a guy I know travelled widely around Iran on his motorcycle. They all were welcomed by the people they met, who helped them when they needed help. The girls were even called to hide in people’s houses when the word got to the police that strangers were in the villages, and they were then smuggled out of back doors. So it wasn’t very safe for them. People told them stories of great hardship following the fall of the Shah when their liberty and freedom of association came to an abrupt end.
thanks for that link!
@Alyson –
Yes – many Iranians are well informed about Palestine and very supportive of the Palestinian cause, well informed too about the obnoxious role that has been played on our planet by the United States and the Zionists, and not at all subservient in their minds towards the Iranian authorities. For example, they are much more likely to be able to engage in an intelligent conversation about state surveillance than a randomly-chosen British person is.
I mean seriously what do you get in Britain? Unthinking use of propaganda terms – “cost of living crisis”, “credit crunch”, “small boats”, “climate crisis”, “net zero”, “violence against women and girls”, “safeguarding”, “conspiracy theory”, etc. etc. etc.
‘Safe and effective’
The reality is that it is none of our business how Iran runs its country.
Let’s not forget the Shah was a western puppet put into power by the west, specifically the UK, after deposing prime minister Mosaddegh who had the temerity to nationalise the British controlled oil industry (AKA BP). The corrupt shah was hated and removed by the iranian revolution and then left to wander and die by his western backers.
Maybe the Arab nations don’t fit in with our view of a democratic society but that’s not our business.
The west, particularly the UK, wants to destroy Iran. Here’s hoping they get a bloody nose.
I have this funny feeling “the West” no longer exists. For instance, is the Donald, who cuddles up with Vladimir the West? Is Spain, with its Prime Minister calling the Israeli government criminals the West?
This concept lost its meaning at least 10 years ago. Even the “emmerdeur” Macron of France publicly declared NATO brain dead back then…
And as far as I can tell, only Netanyahu dreams of destroying Iran. The Donald thinks business and knows how much fortune his family can gain in making “deals” there. The Donald is both the Commander-in-chief and the chief con-man of this West that no longer actually exists…
Reality shouldn’t hurt our feelings.
‘The West’, IMO, is the hegemon (USA) and it’s vassals. (eg. Most off Europe, the five eyes, NATO)
Trump is still sanctioning Russia and pumping arms into Ukraine so the relationship hasn’t changed.
Spain, France, Germany and the rest are still beholden to the USA, there is no independence of thought or deed. They may want their little empires but America sets the agenda for them.
When anyone, including Jews, complains about the Israeli government what are they actually saying ? Are they calling for an end to the apartheid state ? Are they calling for democracy and equal right for Palestinians, Christians, etc. ?
The problems with Israel goes right back to its formation, not just October 7th last year, and the rot is much deeper than Netanyahu. The west is happy for right wing, apartheid Israel to exist they just want the genociders to murder a bit more surreptitiously.
You’re fighting ghosts.
There’s obviously a BIG problem with Israel, but it’s not going to be solved by waving at rag dolls. And despite all evidence, you still clinch to this forlorn cliché of THE WEST.
Better watch a good Sergio Leone movie is my advice.
Unfortunately everybody else still sees the West as clear as day. Never more clearly than in the past 20 months.
One could ask what Finland were joining.
The term “the West” is terminologically wrong for reasons that include
1. It assumes you’re looking from within a certain wedge of longitudes.
So it doesn’t make sense from say Japan or Australia.
This is reason enough for it to go the way of the nowadays little-used term “the Orient”.
2. Even within that wedge of longitudes, some countries clearly aren’t in it, such as Cuba and Algeria.
Also it’s fuzzy at the edges. Does one call mostly Orthodox Christian countries such as Serbia and Bulgaria part of the west?
But terminology isn’t everything. Many people who live in poor countries use the term “third world”, which there’s no good point quibbling with. And fuzziness at the edges isn’t sufficient to make a concept useless. So “the West” will sometimes do.
But I prefer
1. The US and its bumsniffer countries.
2. The US and its satellites.
“Satellites” is a great term, especially if a pro-western type says “You can’t say Britain, France, or Germany is just like Czechoslovakia was in 1960!” – and then you just look at them, maybe raising an eyebrow.
3. The rich Protestant and Catholic world.
This doesn’t say anything about Jewish power or the fact that most of the rulers are atheists who don’t give a sh*t about religion except insofar as it helps with social control (which is true almost everywhere in the world), but you can’t have everything with a short piece of terminology. This phrase still says quite a lot.
4. The US and compradores
“Compadores” is a great descriptor for bourgeois “we love brands” w*nkers in many countries.
If some people have a genuine problem understanding what ‘The West’ means, then might I suggest an alterative term: ‘The Cunts’ ?.
You’re welcome …
The simplest way to look at it is that “the West” = “The USA and its wannabes”.
Mr Boy, you seem to be rather ALTERATIVE yourself. But your rationale seems a little short. When profanities are used instead of real arguments, it’s time to take a break.
Alyson
I’m not sure your stories about Iran are quite accurate, more representing the prejudices of the travellers you cite and the interpretation they put on what they heard. In the five years since I last had a trip around Iran, things have lightened up very considerably. In Tehran scarcely any women wear headscarves at all, according to reports, and more or less confirmed by Youtube videos. Evidently Tehran is in advance of the rest of the country, but it’s an indicator. The Morality Police were not at all in evidence when I was there.
What struck me was what a modern up-to-date country Iran is. The religious regime in Iran is very like Britain being governed by Reform UK. Same sort of people appealing to the same electorate, just with a religious cloak in the place of nationalist. I do speak Persian by the way.
They were 2 girls travelling through rural areas and there was great danger that they could have been arrested for hitch hiking around the country. I already acknowledged that in the towns and cities women have jobs and higher education, but gender segregation is still strictly enforced, and they still have the death penalty for flagrant avoidance of these religious based rules.
People shared their stories of hard times at the hands of the religious enforcers. Iran is a very big country and norms in one area may be different in others. People were kind, and that is the message, while law enforcers were a potential danger which they were kept safe from by kind people
Doesn’t sound very bright for two girls to hitch-hike round Iran, when the buses are very cheap. But did they actually experience any trouble themselves, or was it all second-hand stories? There are lots of people who’ll tell you about how evil the regime are. They’re all middle class or upper class people who’ve lost out since the revolution. I’ve met lots of people like that.
“but gender segregation is still strictly enforced,” Not what I saw, and there are lots of Youtube videos of the streets of Tehran showing how people behave. It’s not Afghanistan.
“and they still have the death penalty for flagrant avoidance of these religious based rules.” The exexcutions are mainly for drug-dealing, which the regime are exceptionally sensitive about. These cases are very frequently reintepreted maliciously by opponents of the regime as being executions for being gay, which they are not. These two girls who hitch-hiked were not in danger of death, though they might have been bundled out of the country. The westerners who get imprisoned, are so for spying.
Feel free to dispute their experiences and observations, as if you know better. Their example is helpful. They were happy to meet people, and being able to switch from male to female could tell both sides of the equation. I was privileged to hear their first hand and up to date descriptions of the world they visited. Back in the seventies many people travelled freely in just this way, before the world became polarised by religion and colonialism. Localism remains and a welcome to strangers with it
“as if you know better.”
Evidently your friends know better than me, because they just happened to visit a country and heard stories from others, although you don’t signal that they know the local language, which I just indicated that I do.
“But did they actually experience any trouble themselves, or was it all second-hand stories?”
“On Horseback Through Asia Minor” by Frederick Burnaby is a classic of this. In practically every town and village he visits, he is regaled with tales of atrocities in other towns or villages, but told that nothing had actually happened in the one he was in. Of course, when he got to the reported site of the atrocities, it was the same story.
The headscarf thing is a bit of a red herring. I have several colleagues in the UK who wear the headscarf, not because they are forced but because of religious observance. Something that was/is also fairly common in catholic countries, not to mention Nuns !.
Regardless, what business of ours is it ?
Maybe, visit some of our northern cities and discuss your issues with the ‘locals’.
Laguerre, please accept my respect! Speaking Persian is something beyond my concept of ‘ordinary people’.
The writing, grammar and pronunciation smells of ancient times, scriptures etc.
I once tried to learn a little of Arabic, it gave the impression of meeting both Gods and Extraterrestrial beings. Sort of being inside the skin of Louise Banks in the Arrival film.
You’d find learning Persian a lot easier than Arabic. At least initially, Persian is easy as an Indo-European language, whose systems are comprehensible to westerners. Arabic is fiendishly difficult (I speak of reading and writing the literary language, not the spoken dialect), until you get used to it.
Here is my first Substack piece, as announced up thread, to contain material largely sourced from Gaza.
The people, their day to day lives, their hopes and their fears.
Stills, videos, and conversation.
https://waltking.substack.com/p/eyeless-in-gaza-chapter-one
I have been in tears assembling it.
I don’t think I need to say any more.
Great work, Walt.
Meanwhile we’re told to believe that the Western leaders responsible are still consumed with grief for victims of a genocide 80 years ago and will never allow one to happen again. Marvellous times, they really are.
Only some victims of the genocides. Others have been forgotten.
And one doesn’t need to venture to foreign, non-UKGBNI lands, to smell the bullshit that security services shovel in an effort to exercise remote anonymous command and control of media hosted, neo-fascist, geo-political operations. Here’s some recent news on a home based scandal which has had its cans further kicked down the road to another later date which may or may not be honoured ……..
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/new-date-set-for-trial-of-former-dup-leader-jeffrey-donaldson-and-wife/a226552879.html
…… and that does have one imagining and asking all sorts of unpleasant and impertinent and awkward, but not necessarily fanciful questions, with those shared below proving too much for Slugger O’Toole to handle [for they were deleted very soon after they were successfully posted in a thread also highlighting suspected MI5 and security services’ roles in their bread and butter work …… right dodgy shenanigans
“When the Manchester Arena attack eventually did happen” ??
You might want to watch this video supposedly shot shortly after the Manchester Arena attack
https://archive.org/details/jb-video-full-original-1
It does not show what one might expect . The women seen hot footing it had a bolt blown through her leg and was interviewed by the queen. The evidence that Salman Abedi did blow himself to bits include his Halifax bank card found at the scene you can clearly read his name and bank number what more evidence is required.
The rather inconvenient police audio log that was leaked to Richard D Hall (now to be known as the sickest man in the UK) Include a man who saw him leave his car put on his ruck sack and run o the Arena. The CCTV that shows him bent over with this huge heavy rucksack as he walks smiling past the security and police knowing he wont be challenged . The witnesses that reported to the police that he put down the rucksack and run out. The audio log as they pursued his car and the mobile phone video of the car being stopped by special forces with sub machine guns. The Drone footage that shows the big sky light was not destroyed photos that show the glass doors were not shattered The police Manteline video (Mantle is a cover as in a mantle piece that covers the fire) .That shows not a huge crater as described but some blackened floor tiles. The heavily redacted CCTV images when pieced together by Richard show non of the evidence of any crime scene preservation. Richard spent months putting together a tool allows you to view most of the CCTV evidence released.
Yes we remember the liquid plane plot and how we now have all that security at airports. But if you want to expose a false flag Manchester Arena attack has lots of red flags and possibly a few red herrings.
Encouraging news from Romania suggesting that the far right Presidential candidate George Simion is behind in the count.
https://bucharestdailynews.com/exit-polls-indicate-nicusor-dan-wins-presidential-runoff-with-over-10-lead/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/may/18/europe-elections-live-poland-portugal-romania-super-sunday?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-682a44e68f0812fb97042b3f#block-682a44e68f0812fb97042b3f
The emigrant vote is apparently more pro-Simion which may make the result closer.
Interesting to speculate as to why emigrants favour the nationalist far right.
I’m not sure if it gives you any idea, today Pavel Durov, the owner of Telegram, posted this:
“A Western European government (guess which 🥖)
*an emoji inserted here, resembles of a bun for hotdog or maybe a baguette*
approached Telegram, asking us to silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today’s presidential elections. I flatly refused. Telegram will not restrict the freedoms of Romanian users or block their political channels.
You can’t “defend democracy” by destroying democracy. You can’t “fight election interference” by interfering with elections. You either have freedom of speech and fair elections — or you don’t. And the Romanian people deserve both.”
Tatyana
May 18, 2025 at 22:23
It looks like the Romanian people, in a free and fair election, have made their choice.
When did your country last/ever have a free and fair election?
oh! I think I guess what it is, it’s a national trait of answering a question with a question!
well, my parents say that my great-great-great grandmother was jewish, let’s test in reality what we got by birth!
so, I understand that you don’t want to talk about Western European governments interfering in the electoral process of Romania?
Tatyana
May 18, 2025 at 23:12
Tatyana, Romanians made a good choice: an intelligent man (a mathematician in his youth) opposed to corruption not a populist (Simion) who said In an April 2025 interview with Politico, “we are natural allies of the Republican Party and we are almost perfectly aligned ideologically with the MAGA movement”.[
You are hinting that France asked Telegram to “silence conservative voices in Romania”. Simion isn’t a conservative, he’s a far right populist who would have been a useful ally to your President. Like Orban and Fico.
So when did your country last/ever have a free and fair election?
JK, I am glad that the election in Romania went smoothly, even though I think the President there has only very limited power, unlike his counterparts in Russia and in the US.
According to various sources, Mr Durov (or du Rove!) has seen his conditional release relaxed by the French justice on March 15, and soon after left for Dubai. It’s quite significant that he waited until then to start his smear campaign against the country where he’s still indicted of several criminal charges. He probably has no intention to ever return…
Also significant is the fact that he immediately received full support from the usual suspects, and to start with from the most notorious, the one and only Elon Musk, the shadow leader of America. Is Elon “the West” or not? I start to wonder, considering the full splits he’s managed to take since his bromance with the Donald.
Obviously, there’s no reason whatsoever to doubt whatever Mr Durov has written on Telegram. He wouldn’t be a billionaire if he was telling porkies!
Besides, I really think you should be more careful with what you tell Tatyana: don’t forget that this latest post above was written at 23:12, which was already 01:12 Moscow time (and even later in many oblasts). Which implies an impressive dedication to the cause of supporting the untouchable Vladimir Putin. At that time of the night, words sometimes exceed your thoughts…
Tatanya and JK Redux.
Apparently a lot of Mathematicians were responsible for the Financial Crash in 2008.
They worked at Goldman – Sachs – Lehman Brothers and many many more Finance Companies.
Here’s the irony – the inventor of the algorithm that the investments should only fail once in a thousand years was Chinese.
He doesn’t sound like he comes from Maoism or X- ism more likeley Capitalism.
Wherever that is?
The winner is said to be pro NATO – Pro EU and he is a Conservative Liberal?
Suggesting, he subscribes to neo -liberal economics and is like other leaders who
think that making the richer -richer still will effect a ‘ Trickledown ‘ to the less fortunate.
Even though it has never worked anywhere in The Western World.
Keep the Faith was probably talked up just before the 2008 Financial Crash no doubt?
He may be alright but you have to go with the flow these days with the Big Boys
otherwise the money doesn’t come in anymore.
To be fair to him they could get a sniff of the weapons spending from the EU.
All the EU has to do now is get rid of Orban as he has threatened to Veto that policy.
“so, I understand that you don’t want to talk about Western European governments interfering in the electoral process of Romania?”
It wouldn’t be a “free and fair election” if they didn’t.
MR MARK CUTTS
May 19, 2025 at 22:10
Mark, the mathematicians that you are perhaps thinking of were the financial mathematicians whose work was indeed abused by hedge fund investors. The latter were warned of the limitations of the financial models developed by the former. In particular they chose to ignore the fact that different sectors of the market are highly correlated; when the market crashed all the supposedly independent “investment products” crashed together. But don’t blame mathematicians for that, rather the greedy investors.
Dan excelled in relatively pure mathematics.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicu%C8%99or_Dan
“Born in Făgăraș, Brașov County, Dan earned international acclaim in his youth as a mathematician, securing gold medals at the 1987 and 1988 International Mathematical Olympiads. He began studying mathematics at the University of Bucharest and then moved to France, where he obtained a master’s degree from École normale supérieure and a PhD from Paris 13 University. After returning to Romania, Dan founded Școala Normală Superioară București, an institution aimed at guiding the most talented Romanian students towards scientific research, and became a civic activist.”
“When did your country last/ever have a free and fair election?”
Russia can never have a free and fair election, because a free and fair election is one where the West approves of the result, as you have just demonstrated admirably.
“So when did your country last/ever have a free and fair election?”
Wouldn’t that be the 17th of March 2024?
https://tass.com/politics/1760851
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj679nk6endo
“Georgescu had won the first round of last year’s presidential vote, but it was annulled after intelligence revealed Russia had been involved in setting up almost 800 TikTok accounts backing him.”
If Russia sets up TikTok accounts backing a UK candidate will we have to re-run our elections without that candidate and would that be democratic?
Serious doubts over the last Russian election being free and fair; same applies to the one before that and the one before that.
https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/russia/news/2024/article/russia-results-of-the-presidential-election-18-mar-2024
A man who managed to force through changes to the Russian constitution to enable him to stay in power until 2036. By which time he’ll be 84 – two years older than Joe Biden. Good luck with that Russia.
It’s a paradox of democracy that it has to take what might appear to be undemocratic actions to defend itself against those who are out to destroy it. Anyway the far right government that some people like to pretend runs Ukraine comes in for endless abuse as does the far right in the UK (even if they aren’t) and yet the same voices are speaking up in support of a far right candidate in Romania.
How come?
How come there’s still no acknowledgement from you that your OWN government is participating in a pitiless genocide?
Some might think it’s a very odd thing for a principled critic of governments to be silent about for 20 months.
If in doubt, change the subject.
“the same voices are speaking up in support of a far right candidate in Romania.
How come?”
Because the far right candidate won a democratic election.
Generaly the undemocratic actions are taken to defend the power structures hiding behind the appearance of democracy.
Oh so neo-Nazis are acceptable if they win elections? Like Benjamin Netanyahu and Adolf himself.
Pears Morgaine
” It’s a paradox of democracy that it has to take what might appear to be undemocratic actions to defend itself against those who are out to destroy it.”
It is indeed a paradox.
As a leftie I would maybe prefer Soviets but, because The Western World does not have enough Surplus Value Proletarians these days then like the CCP I will have to settle for the fact that it’s a wicked world and that we have to operate between the lines until the Glorious Day.
But, we have to say that Bourgeois Democracy is well past its sell by date?
The thing is with this Lawfare nonsense is that what THEY ( whomever they are?) do to the Right they will do to the Left and maybe even the weak Centre.
Starmer received 660k less votes in 2024 than Corbyn did in the ” disastrous ” 2019 GE yet managed to pull off twice as big a majority than Lucky Man Johnson in the same Brexit year.
That is a flaw of crazy proportions in both cases.
Even in a Bourgeoise democracy that is not exactly an example of the
People’s Will.
You would be fair in asking whether I as Leftie have an answer or a solution for the West?
That would be a fair question.
I gave up long ago in thinking that the Intellectuals on the Left would give us all the benefits of their philosophy but, that’s all it turned out to be – just Philosophy – otherwise known as intelligent musing
The Chinese have Confucius – Mao and so on and seem to be cracking onwith the real practicalities of life and so on whilst the West is more concerned with chewing the cud with very little intention of raising living standards and progressing.
The truth is for Lefties in general is that different models of democracy will come from without the West and if you view Socialism as an experiment then various outcomes ( good and bad ) will be inevitable.
Capitalism has had its day as has Imperialism and we shall see where this all leads and I hope to a brighter future for young people instead of the greyness of Neo -liberal Economics and its current proponents.
JK Redux
I have nothing against Mathematicians – some of my best friends are mathematicians.
Yet – these people are the one’s who are in charge of AI Algorithms that promise the vistas of the new future world.
I like a bet on the horses and have been betting for a very long time but I have yet to see any Tipster or betting Guru consistently come up with the goods.
Because, if Horse racing reflects the real world and someone says ‘ I have the answer to your losing problem – forever’ the whole thing is a sham.
Why?
Because, even an ill educated person will know that nothing lasts for ever or works forever and it is foolish – if not crazy – to think that it always will.
Call it a Human Instinct if you like and vis: Democracy that truth is the same.
What follows – I have no idea but there are no vacuums in politics or economics and something will fill the void.
Definitely not a Revolution in the West but, maybe suggestions from the East that may sink in eventually in The Pompous West.
“A man who managed to force through changes to the Russian constitution to enable him to stay in power until 2036. ”
“Force through”, eh? Your evidence that the changes were forced through is what, or is it just that everything that Putin does is “forced through”, just like everything the Russian army does is “brutal”? In any case, just because the President of the USA is limited to two four year terms doesn’t mean that this is some kind of natural law that all humanity must obey. If the Russians like Putin enough to keep electing him as president, why should they not do so?
More on the fake MI5 terror plot from the Cradle:
“What is clear is that claims of Iranian-linked terrorism continue to surface whenever Tel Aviv or its allies seek to ramp up pressure on the Islamic Republic.”
https://thecradle.co/articles/another-fictional-iranian-plot-in-london
Yes, just as the howls of ‘antisemitism’ become defeaning whenever the screams of the slaughtered are being heard.
In other news,
Israel’s leader B.N. just announced this morning (he for one keeps regular resting hours) that he intends to get and keep full control of the Gaza Strip. Not a big surprise. One tends to assume the same applies to the West Bank.
What a disaster for the axis of resistance… What a tragedy for the people of Palestine!
Let’s hope MI5 had nothing to do with it…
Survivors would be sent to Libya, according to a joint plan of Trump and Netanyahu
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-working-plan-move-1-million-palestinians-libya-rcna207224
Melrose
May 19, 2025 at 17:26
As that NBC piece makes clear, the transportation of a million people to Libya (probably the breakaway Eastern region) would be logistically impossible.
And of course there is nowhere to house a million people in a country suffering a civil war.
And most importantly of all, the forced movement of people is a war crime.
Hard to know what Trump is actually thinking or whether this is just a brain fart caused by his increasing cognitive decline.
Miserable old fucker should just fuck off and die.
Agreed, this plan looks totally delusional, not to mention criminal.
And yet, the Donald has plenty of cheerleaders who pretend he ought to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize!
We live in a crazy world…
Melrose
The interesting thing is that Israel is sending ‘ Regular Soldiers ‘ to occupy some parts of Gaza.
Suggesting they don’t trust or can’t get Reservists to do it?
p.s. Has anyone any info on China doing Aid Airdrops in parts of Gaza?
I have seen some comments that this is not true?
If it isn’t it should be, being as the bleating media Liberals are wearing their hands out due
to impotent constant handwringing.
Plus it makes permanent lying even harder to do.
“p.s. Has anyone any info on China doing Aid Airdrops in parts of Gaza?”
Well, I’ve seen a picture of a cargo plane escorted by fighters which was purported to be Chinese and heading for Gaza with aid, but who knows? It came from a usually reliable source, but even truth tellers can be deluded, which is why I don’t believe in sources. All you can say is that, if true, it’s likely to be something the usual suspects aren’t going to shout about.
Sorry, faked. The aircraft are American, look closely and the markings can just be made out. The airdrop footage is of a C-17 taken last year.
Air drops are never going to be able to feed two million people anyway besides you can never be sure the packages reach the people most in need.