The outgoing Head of MI6 Richard Moore has formally admitted in a public speech in Istanbul that MI6 has been cooperating with HTS in Syria – a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act – for years.
The government is arresting little old ladies for holding signs supporting one proscribed organisation, Palestine Action, while it admits it has been actively supporting another proscribed organisation. HTS was proscribed as a division of Al Qaida, as shown on the government website:
As I learnt while in Lebanon, the British support for HTS included intelligence support, training and weapons, based at secret UK bases in the Bekaa valley, including inside the Rayak airbase. It also included support via an NGO named Inter-Mediate, run by current British National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, who is Tony Blair’s old Downing Street Chief of Staff.
In the UK neither the government nor the security services stand above the law. The fact that neither Moore nor Powell nor any of those on the ground directly involved in actively and substantively supporting HTS – a proscribed organisation – has been arrested, while people are arrested for holding a placard supporting Palestine Action because it is a proscribed organisation, is the very definition of arbitrary and oppressive government.
The impartial rule of law in the UK has collapsed completely. All of this was material support to a proscribed organisation.
Powell with al Jolani
Meanwhile we have Starmer’s hollow gesture of recognising Palestine. This is designed to placate those in the Labour Party who are horrified by the Genocide in Gaza. As it is accompanied by zero intention to limit or even acknowledge the Genocide, it is the very definition of a useless gesture.
Palestine was already recognised by three quarters of the nations of the world. What Starmer believes he has furthered is a Bantustan state, hopelessly divided between an obliterated Gaza, small and isolated remnants of the West Bank and what remains of East Jerusalem. That these fissiparous remnants could ever constitute a viable state is plainly impossible – which is the idea.
Furthermore Starmer attacks the very definition of a state by insisting that the Palestinians can be told who they must have to rule them. The notion that the traitor Abbas and his Palestinian Authority would ever be chosen by the Palestinian people is utter nonsense. Furthermore Macron and Starmer have both specified that a Palestinian state must be disarmed, have no armed forces, and lie prey to the genocidal state next door at all times. The Saudi/French plan even states that Israel should have vetting control over the appointment of individual Palestinian police officers!
The only virtue to this act of recognition is that it will make it more difficult politically for the UK not to react with the first genuine sanctions against Israel once Israel formally annexes Gaza or the West Bank. It is thus a very minor political improvement. With the British government already having repudiated the UN Commission of Inquiry’s finding of Genocide, the attack on Gaza in full flow, and the Global Sumud Flotilla very likely to be met by Israel with deadly force, Starmer is, as usual, completely out of touch with public opinion if he believes he has reduced political pressure over his complicity in Genocide.
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Well said Craig. The MSM will no doubt ‘big up’ the recognition of a ‘Palestinian State’, but under the actual circumstances it means next to nothing, and will not help the Palestinians at all.
Haven’t the secret services always been above the law, licensed (like the police or the army) to carry guns and kill enemies if necessary, allowed to deal with any scoundrels for the ‘greater good’ in the name of HMG, tap phones, and so on?
No, it’s a myth. There are specific legal powers for what they can and can’t do in each individual sphere. There is not general exemption from law.
Hence the ‘five eyes’ where they each scratch each others backs to avoid domestic laws. And, the SS have never, to my knowledge, ever been prosecuted for law breaking …
There was a marginal improvement over the summer in the British media’s disgusting coverage of the Gaza Genocide. However both wings of the MSM are still scrupulously suppressing Britain’s ongoing, multifaceted participation.
Naturally they are aiding Starmer’s latest effort to muddy the waters of his involvement by massively hyping his insulting and meaningless gesture of “recognition”; omitting all mention of his ongoing provision of arms, intelligence and political cover for the IDF.
Laura Kuensberg of all people did ask Lammy yesterday to provide one tangible difference that “recognising” the state of Palestine will make to the situation in Gaza. Needless to say, he couldn’t. She did not point out however, as history will, that what the British government is doing is “recognising” a Palestinian state while it helps Israel exterminate the Palestinian people.
As for the ISIS regime in Damascus, it’s not only the likes of Dearlove and Powell who support it. The headchoppers also have some big fans in Your Party. Not just Jeremy’s landlord mates but Zarah too.
Why the hell does the British government involve itself in Middle Eastern countries at all? How many MPs or even foreign ministers have actually studied and understood the differences between, for instance, a Sunni, a Shia, and an Alawite? It is none of our business. Is their motivation entirely about their own psychology- wanting to believe that they are still a big player in the affairs of the whole world, as in the days of the “Great Game?”
By “our” of course I mean the common people of this country, and by “they” I mean the permanent Elite.
Au contraire, most of our ministers are very well informed and educated on the ME, after all they have been on educational courses on the situation provided free of charge by those lovely Israeli chaps … 🙂
Oil.
Privelaged. literally private legislation so nothing new. If justice is denied then there is mob justice to follow. People only need to see your ignore the law a few times before they decide it no longer applies to them either.
The hypocrisy is worldwide. Only a handful of countries have cut diplomatic ties with Israel as a result of the ongoing genocide. These are mainly Central and south American countries (Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Honduras), some ME countries (Bahrain, Jordan and Turkey, African countries (Chad and South Africa) but none of the countries in the west and not even the Gulf Abraham Accord countries and surprising up till now not even Qatar which has been directly attacked and its sovereignty violated. There is however a lot of wringing of the hands everywhere. Russia enjoys a normal relationship with Israel and it is said that Putin has a warm relationship with Netanyahu and a soft spot for Israel, even though the feelings may not be entirely reciprocal especially with regards to Ukraine. China also has strong trading and other ties with Israel. The security council rarely produces any meaningful discussions or resolutions of value.
So it is left purely for ordinary citizens all over the world to keep this flame alive and continue to condemn the genocide.
“So it is left purely for ordinary citizens all over the world to keep this flame alive and continue to condemn the genocide.”
If people don’t like genocide, they shouldn’t elect governments that support it – yes, I’m looking at you, all those who voted for Labour in the last GE. They shouldn’t elect crappy governments under the influence of Zionists and then expect other countries to rescue them from the results of their own foolish actions. The exact same argument was going round before the Brexit vote: “we can’t leave the EU, who will rein in the excesses of our Tory government if we do?”
“Starmer is, as usual, completely out of touch with public opinion if he believes he has reduced political pressure over his complicity in Genocide.”
I don’t believe for a moment that he does. Somebody, somewhere probably thought the government should be seen to be doing something and that this would “look good” , while, as you point out, not actually mean anything, especially since the US disposed of that pesky UN vote.
Wiser heads in and behind the party know that Labour will be toast at the next GE, for this and other reasons, so they have a free hand to be as oppressive and arbitrary as they like. These days it’s not what anyone should do that counts, it’s what they can get away with doing. Machiavelli rules!