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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
Showing posts with label Craig Murray. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Craig Murray. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

21 February - News Notes

Lindsey German ScotlandImage via Wikipedia
BBC News at OneImage via Wikipedia
The United Kingdom PavilionThe United Kingdom Pavilion (Photo credit: IceNineJon)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 05: BBC news staff...Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Cover of "Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behi...Cover via Amazon
 We are the New World Order

BBC News: Come here for America in all its glory 

The most effective propaganda is invisible, passing itself off as reality even to those producing it.


David F. Noble
(guest blogger)
Don't breathe. There's a total war on against CO2 emissions, and you are releasing CO2 with every breath. The multi-media campaign against global warming now saturating our senses, which insists that an increasing CO2 component of greenhouse gases is the enemy, takes no prisoners: you are either with us or you are with the "deniers." No one can question the new orthodoxy or dare risk the sin of emission. If Bill Clinton were running for president today he would swear he didn't exhale.

Does the Left think we are stupid ? 
Left Wing Conspiracy : this from people who cannot agree on a definition of socialism and consider two War parties suitable choice for the populace ; and Left-Right no less ! It's enough to make one run as an Anarchist just for variety. Monbiot and Plimer - though entertaining - scarcely encompass the variety of thought available from Fire and Ice,Global Research.ca,JoAnn Nova,Aletho News,Biased BBC and more.
I haven't put everything I've posted in these files - the blog is Searchable - but here's a ragbag of both condemnation of 'Denierism' ( there's a framing proposition if I ever heard one ) and pushback against UN reeducation campaigns.
http://opitslinkfest.blogspot.com/2010/03/climate.html
http://opitslinkfest.blogspot.com/p/environmental-challenges.html
Posted on 21 February 2012 19:07 by opit

( I think you are stupid to call them the Left. That's not the usual catch phrase for right wing authoritarian extremists pushing global government by the usual murderous miscreants.
Huh ?  I get criticized for calling carbon credits energy tax "An International Tax on the Use of Fire" ; something about it being a cute quip. 
Nope. Blatant and Obvious Robbery is not that, though the hubris of such is outstanding.
Since China and the USA - and Canada - are not signing up, those who have have just given themselves a relative trading disadvantage which will shortly penalize them horribly when international capital investment is contemplated. That won't penalize Big Coal at all.  )

Representations of a self-represented litigant as an old man
Where teaching Politically Incorrect Thought is once again punished
"An education obtained with money is worse than no education at all." -- Socrates
"One knows … that the university and in a general way, all teaching systems, which appear simply to disseminate knowledge, are made to maintain a certain social class in power; and to exclude the instruments of power of another social class. … It seems to me that the real political task in a society such as ours is to criticise the workings of institutions, which appear to be both neutral and independent; to criticise and attack them in such a manner that the political violence which has always exercised itself obscurely through them will be unmasked, so that one can fight against them." -- Foucault, debating Chomsky, 1971.

( Time was university was meant to stimulate individual initiative. Today...not so much. I'm reminded of the one and only time I tutored 3 Chinese students on writing book reports. Once they realized 'essai' { the Norman/French root of essay } described a diagnostic test indicating a demonstrated ability to work in English  { trial - or 'to try' } they were off and running....without me.  :)  )


Craig Murray
The invention of terrorism
For those in power terrorism must exist. It is a justification of much of their power and a great deal of state apparatus, not to mention a great deal of private profit. If nobody is being convicted, it is not because there is no terrorism – despite the fact that, plainly, there isn’t, nobody has been killed by a terrorist in mainland UK for seven years – it is a sign that the system is not working.
Now if nobody had been convicted for burglary last year, I would worry. There are lots of burglaries. But that nobody has been convicted for a crime that did not happen, seems to me a good thing. What is deeply, deeply worrying is that we have politicians who think there should be a regular flow of convictions for terrorism, whether there is any terrorism or not.
On which subject, I am troubled by the current large terrorism trial in Woolwich. The defendants entered a plea of guilty after being told that they would then face a maximum fifteen year jail sentence, and would probably serve just another six. If they pleaded not guilty and lost, they could serve twenty five years.
Forget that the charge is terrorism – I deeply resent the effective introduction of plea-bargaining into our justice system, with the obvious danger that innocent people will take the less risky course. For what it is worth, my impression from the evidence in this case is that these were fantasisers about terrorism who were unlikely actually to become dangerous, but were rightly pulled up. It is very wrong that they were dissuaded from having the evidence against them tested by a jury

British democracy : no better than Uzbekistan's
  1. 1.  We need to know who funds these thinktank lobbyists | George Monbiot
  2. 2. Jeremy Lin row reveals deep-seated racism against Asian Americans | Hadley Freeman
  3. 3. The paradox of Rick Santorum's conservative beliefs | Ana Marie Cox
  4. 4. How Cameron's NHS cheats waiting-list figures | Polly Toynbee
  5. 5. Squatting law will only criminalise the homeless. Let's demolish clause 130 | Tanya Gold
 Report from Lhasa
( Not much different from the fate of Palestinians, I shouldn't expect. This despite the fact that Tibetans have evolved to handle the local high altitude environment - and their tormentors haven't.  )

Will American Anti-Labor Policies Infect Europe?

 

USA Global GMO Cover-up

I'm a fan of Mike Adams (no relation) the Health Ranger and his Natural News website.
His latest story is on the USA and how it is attempting to outlaw non-GMO labeling of foods, thereby making it illegal for a non-GMO food product to even claim "non-GMO" on the label. If the U.S. succeeds in this global GMO cover-up, the FDA could seize any products in the USA that make "non-GMO" claims. Additionally, the USA could file lawsuits through the World Trade Organization against any country that allows non-GMO labeling or claims on its products. This includes us here in the UK and the rest of Europe.
Please have a look at the full story using this link
http://www.naturalnews.com/028716_GMOs_food_labels.html
There is included within a petition to Secretaries of State (Clinton), Agriculture (Vilsack), and Health and Human Services (Sebelius) to urge them to halt the USA's nefarious attempts to install a global GMO deception. Please take the time to send this to them to let them know that people outside of the USA are aware and watching their action.

Monsanto's Bt GMO corn to be sold at WalMart with no indication it is genetically modified 

 Fluoride : Disposing of mining waste through your body

Fluoride

Der Speigel report says gas fracking is safe. Is it ?

( I didn't see my comment referring to notes on fracking in my Water and Energy files ) 

 

Florida Trade Group Seeks to Prevent Municipalities from Providing Internet
by Staff Report
Published Monday, February 20, 2012
A Florida trade group calling itself the Florida Coalition for the New Economy is lobbying against municipalities having the right to provide high-speed internet, because they say it wastefully duplicates Internet access efforts, pitting government in “head to head competition with private industry."
more»

 

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Sunday, January 8, 2012

8 January - Late Links

S-75 Dvina with V-750V 1D missile on a launche...Image via Wikipedia
English:Image via Wikipedia
Deutsch: Straße von Hormuz. Auf dem Originalbi...Image via Wikipedia
Craig Murray

Some clarification please, Mr. Mulcair.

 NDP leadership candidate and environmental hawk Thomas Mulcair announced his intention to implement a, “new comprehensive plan to combat climate change.”  According to his press release, “Mulcair’s new plan would still be industry-focused and based on the principle that ‘polluters pay’, but it would expand beyond the 700 largest emitters in Canada to cover all major sources of climate change pollution.” Want to understand what this means?  Here are three questions you should ask – Who’s covered? What’s the cap?  Who gets the permits?
Broader coverage sounds promising – Canada’s GHG emissions are not as concentrated among large, industrial sources as most people think.  In fact, if you look at the 500 or so largest industrial emitters in Canada, those emitting more than 50,000 tons of CO2 equivalent GHGs per year, they account for about 250Mt of annual emissions. Canada’s total GHG emissions in the same year (2009) were 690 Mt, so the direct emissions from the largest industrial facilities account for a little over 35% the Canadian total.

Lindsay: Why the Strait of Hormuz matters

The strait really is a choke point when it come to the transportation of oil. Only the Strait of Malacca, which runs between Indonesia and Malaysia, comes close in its importance to world shipping.

Nearly sixteen million barrels of oil move through the Strait of Hormuz each day. That translates to nearly twenty percent of all the oil moved daily.
Now for the good news. The odds that Tehran could shut down the strait are close to nil.

 opit

As far as Iran`s ability to close the strait goes,one factor will be the effect on insuring shipments.
Another is wargaming results – which hardly reflect your analysis
.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002
Not that wargaming foresees the real world. http://alt-f4.org/img/seaoflies.html
And sanctions affecting Iran so desperately after decades of imposition
http://opitslinkfest.blogspot.com/2011/12/19-december-sanctions.html must surely go along way to consider this what it has been always but was denied : open warfare on Iran.
Where is the loss then from closing the strait as the policy tends to disable this leverage.
Not that representing the nation fighting against nuclear arms as being the real danger has proved totally incorrect – as they are now reported as being able to precision target Israeli WMD and potentially turn it to dirtybombs threat against Israel. Nasty as that is, poetic justice sounds about right.
Also old phrases like balance of terror and mutually assured destruction apply : though the mention of Russia`s determination to treat the security of Iranian power generation as their vital concern should have become as evident as when they responded to US WMD in Turkey decades ago to precipitate the Cuban Missile Crisis.
We live in interesting times still.
( Lost was a note Iran would hardly initiate any nuclear event affecting itself also lightly. )


Oil drops as European debt counters Iran tension


Iran’s growing state of desperation


Israel ties to South Sudan a must

With the anticipations of unpredictable governments in the neighboring countries, due to the recent Arab upraising, Israel stands a better chance by strengthening the old alliance to the South. Thus far, two of the principals of East African countries of Kenya and Uganda, have respectively made separate trips into Israel, in efforts to bolster the existing relationships. Therefore, South Sudan boosting of relationship with Israel is an added bonus to the regional strategic interest.


 Editorial: Diplomatic necessity
January-07-12 4:38 PMA  few years ago, it would have been a diplomatically outrageous and insane act to think of a rapprochement between Egypt’s Brotherhood and the American administration. But history always throws up surprises, and the latest one is that the Obama administration is thinking of doing business with the Muslim Brotherhood and establish relations with the ‘once hated’ organization.
The new US strategy is a reaction to the new realities emerging on the ground. Egypt is a strategic partner for Washington and it cannot decide that it will engage with the government in Cairo only if it is ruled by someone of its liking. After the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, Egyptians have been clear on who should rule them. The elections held in the country have shown unequivocally that the people prefer Islamist parties over secular parties. The reason is Islamists have deep roots in the Egyptian society and were present when Mubarak was ruling the country, while the secular parties, much preferred by the West, have no network and connections with the people which can match that of their electoral rivals. So keeping aloof from the Islamist parties would ultimately mean shutting the door on the future government. The Obama administration has been intelligent enough to understand this reality and has acted wisely by choosing to engage with the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood also, on their part, has been happy to extend a hand of cooperation to the West, especially America, and has repeatedly asserted that they stand for peace and harmony and will be happy to abide by all the international treaties which the previous governments has signed. The US decision to engage with the Brotherhood will set an example for other Western governments and they will not be far behind in building and mending ties with the Islamists. Being Islamist is not being extremist, they have been saying.
In fact US officials are saying the recent outreach to the Muslim Brotherhood, which appears destined to win the largest share of parliamentary seats, is a chance to put in practice policies of President Obama which he first outlined nearly three years ago in a major speech proposing a new relationship of mutual respect with the Muslim world. In May, three months after Hosni Mubarak resigned after a popular uprising, Obama reiterated that theme by saying that “not every country will follow our particular form of representative democracy, and there will be times when our short-term interests don’t align perfectly with our long-term vision for the region.”
As a leading power in the Arab world, Egypt is vital for US interests and for its key ally Israel. So it is natural that US is readjusting to the new realities.
( It is natural the US is adjusting the narrative to reflect better on chosen replacements for the old regime )
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Saturday, April 10, 2010

Politics of Perception | Foreign Policy

Craig Murray delivers an address on September ...Image via Wikipedia
The seal of the United States Department of th...Image via Wikipedia 

U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II


Neo-Colonialism, Subversion in Africa and Global Conflict

All conflicts in post-colonial African wars as well as internal unrest have the same common elements. The involvement of foreign nations, the instrumentalization of local elements, and the goal to control resources, economy, and geopolitically as well as strategically significant locations. Western Medias narrative of French, British, and US-American involvement in Africa is commonly manufacturing popular consent by eliciting a fabled advocacy for stability, human rights, and democracy for African countries; nothing could be farther from the truth. Stability, human rights and democracy are but the pretext for aggressive neo-colonial subversion, invasion, long-term military presence and control. 


Conventional Thinking
New nuclear arms control treaty is a trap for Russia 

  • LIBYA, THE UNITED STATES, AND IRAN: JUST WHO IS “MEDDLING”?

    Tuesday, March 8, 2011

    This week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other Obama Administration officials complained publicly that Iran was “meddling” and “interfering” in events in the Middle East which are threatening the downfall of one U.S. ally after another.  But the Obama Administration’s response to the latest flashpoint—Libya—has been to exhort the Libyan people overthrow its government, declare that Qaddafi “must go”, and engage in an embarrassing, intra-administration but thoroughly public debate about U.S. military intervention in Libya.
    Can no one in Washington really understand that Iran’s narrative of resistance to injustice, foreign occupation, and Western hegemony has more appeal to Middle Eastern publics than the prospect of yet another U.S. military attack on Muslim country?
    The Obama Administration’s handling of the ongoing conflict in Libya is an unfinished case study in how not to conduct “great power” foreign policy.  No less than President Obama himself said publicly that Muammar al-Qaddafi has lost his legitimacy to lead, and that it is time for him to go.  But the Obama Administration has no ready means to bring about that outcome, should Qaddafi not be moved by the persuasive power of Obama’s words.
    Last week, Secretary Clinton stopped just short of calling for the imposition of a “no fly” zone over Libya.  After it dawned on people in the Administration that other permanent members of the Security Council might not be prepared to back such a proposal—Russia’s Foreign Minister and China’s UN ambassador have both publicly dismissed the idea—State Department officials floated a scenario with various media outlets that the United States could recognize a “provisional government” in Libya, composed of various figures opposed to Qaddafi, which would then request the United States to impose a no fly zone.  But it seems very hard to say just who could constitute a provisional Libyan government with sufficient credibility and presumed legitimacy to play this role.
  •  
  • Libyan rebels: McCain's babes

     Angry Arab News Service

     Empire Burlesque Chris Floyd

    Lobelog Foreign Policy ( IPS )

    Tom Dispatch  Tom Engelhardt
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