I will never forget Harry Fear’s live webcasts from Gaza during “Operation Pillar of Cloud”. Came across this new talk just uploaded to YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Id87xHsB38
Harry Fear speaks about Israel’s November 2012 operation on Gaza at the 27 December Initiative in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The last segment of Harry’s talk was not recorded. It quoted late Palestinian psychiatrist Dr. Eyad el-Sarraj, who once questioned, “who will save Israel from itself?”.
Video record by Mathias Kortegaard. The conference, curated by Ebbe Bertelsen and the 27 December Initiative, also included Dr. Mads Gilbert.
The Guardian’s spooks are still pumping out the same old twaddle, Mary.
Whilst the war criminal who gave the orders for Sabra and Shatila in 1982 ‘gave up Gaza’ he was also aware that a plan existed to take it back and that there was backing for such plan from Britain, France and the US.
This plan was agreed almost as the Iraq war began, a vital fact that has to be seen in the context of ‘giving up’, something Johnathan Freedland conveniently forgets, not his kind of history, you see.
Further this giving up and making out that the land was much more than a holding pen for then 1.3 million desperate Palestinians, a land without rights and laws made by its inhabitants, about its infrstructure, economic development, energy strategy etc. a people that were denied ports, prevented by guns from fishing, prevented from drilling for their own gas, a land without its sovereign rights, a concentration land/camp that has to dig tunnels to supply its vital needs.
And I thought that the lot running this country were Fascists Nevermind.
~~~~
Confessions of a Drone Warrior
January 4, 2014
A reader, Robert Green, has recommended Confessions of a Drone Warrior, “the amazing feature in the latest issue of GQ magazine. It’s 12 pages long, but well worth reading”:
As a Fleet Air Arm Observer (Navigator), Robert flew in Buccaneer carrier-borne nuclear strike aircraft and became Staff Officer to Commander-in-Chief Fleet at Northwood HQ in charge of intelligence support for Polaris and the rest of the Fleet. The murder of his aunt Hilda Murrell, an anti-nuclear energy campaigner in 1984, led him to challenge the hazards of nuclear electricity generation. The break-up of the Soviet Union followed by the Gulf War caused him to speak out against nuclear weapons. He is now Co-Director of the Peace Foundation’s Disarmament & Security Centre in New Zealand, using his military experience to promote alternative thinking about security and disarmament.
Confessions of a Drone Warrior – not for the sensitive . . . by Matthew Power
Brandon Bryant, 27, from Missoula, Montana, spent six years in the Air Force operating Predator drones from inside a dark container. But he knew he couldn’t keep doing what he was doing and quit the military.
/..
http://dronewarfare.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/confessions-of-a-drone-warrior/
I saw the British equivalents entering their container at RAF Waddington recently. They assured the reporter that everything they did was very robust!
Inside Britain’s military drone base at RAF Waddington
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25425711
I see that pooches are not allowed anywhere near RAF Croughton near Milton Keynes or RAF Menwith Hill, nor their owners.
Dog-walkers beware! Draconian UK law to protect US ‘drone-operating’ bases
http://rt.com/news/uk-protect-us-drone-bases-033/
You are so right about Sharon, Sabra and Shatila and Gaza, Nevermind.
My comment about fascists was in reply to yours on the attacks on protests in Hamburg.
This is a good blog entry which exposes Agent Cameron for what he really is – a con merchant and a snake oil salesman. He is the next PM in line to have a housing bubble burst all over him. The property developers will have made off with their loot long before it happens.
The sheer audacity of Cameron
The PR ‘Help to Buy’ stunt for a ‘single mum’ which isn’t quite what it seems!http://legalaidandme.proboards.com/thread/8301/audacity-cameron-hypocrisy-help-buy
and he is assisted by the Mail….
Buy a council house for a THIRD of its real value: Discounts under Right to Buy to rise in bid to increase home ownership
Discount under Right to Buy to rise from 60% to 70%, ministers announce
Maximum amount which can be saved will also rise in line with inflation
David Cameron urges ministers to help more on to property ladder
House prices soared by 8.4% last year, including 21% in Manchester
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2533272/Buy-council-house-THIRD-real-value-Discounts-Right-Buy-rise-bid-increase-home-ownership.html
~~~~
Craig on the subject previously
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2011/11/petrol-on-the-flames/
The question about Craig’s whereabouts has been discussed on Medialens. You get a mention Clark.
anyone got an update on craig murray, his health, his blog? http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1388795074.html
“Waltz with Bashir” (Ari Folman’s animated film about Sharon’s massacres at Sabra and Shatila) is on C4 at 12.55 am tonight. Obviously at a time when most will be asleep… A must see though and a reminder of how murderous Sharon was in charge of army then.
5 January 2014
Dockyard workers get accidental radiation dose
Three workers received an accidental dose of radiation during submarine maintenance work in Plymouth, a regulator’s report says.
The incident took place in a storage facility at Devonport Dockyard in 2013, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) found.
An accidental tear in heavy plastic sheeting enclosing a component allowed the release of radioactivity.
The ONR said the incident was “minor” but wants improvements at the yard.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-25611552 ‘
Since when does plastic sheeting shield radioactivity?
~~~~
5 January 2014
Heysham 1 nuclear power plant taken offline
A nuclear power plant in Lancashire has been taken offline owing to a faulty boiler pump.
EDF Energy, operators of Heysham Power Station in Morecambe, said Heysham 1 was closed down at around 08:00 GMT on Saturday.
The firm said: “Heysham 1 unit 1 was taken offline [after] the detection of a fault on the main boiler feed pump.”
It said the move was “unplanned but standard procedure and there was no danger to the public”. The firm added it hoped service at the unit would resume early next week.
One of Heysham 1’s two reactors was shut down in August after smoke was seen coming from it.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-25612308
~~~~
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/nuclear-radiation-warning-sign-grungy-style-32613899.jpg !!
Hi all,
I’m going to be playing about with some various WordPress themes. As initially I will be doing this in a parallel WP installation you shouldn’t notice anything different on the blog but there might be a little downtime as I do a little server housekeeping. So if the site is offline at any point don’t worry – will be back soon 🙂
As per Mary’s post Waltz With Bashir is sbout to start on Channel 4.
Here’s an abbreviated version for those who can’t watch live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifRsUvR7JCc
“Unwillingly, You took on the role of the Nazi”
Thanks for that Squonk. I will be watching that version as I could not stay awake last night. It was a wild and stormy night and, as I write, the rain is still bucketing out of the downpipes.
Gideon is promising another £25bn of cutz (austerity for some but not for others) and will be speechifying at 10.15am. Location not given but it will probably be some factory or sweatshop owned by one of their donors.
This BBC report is like a press handout.
‘In his speech later Mr Osborne is expected to warn: “As a result of the painful cuts we’ve made, the deficit is down by a third and we’re borrowing nearly £3,000 less for every one of you and for every family in the country………’
It is not news. It is a warm up for him. Peston on the same piece blames the crash on the profligate spending of Joe Soap et al. Banking speculation, gambling and fraud are not mentioned.
George Osborne warns £25bn more cuts needed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25617844
Did you hear about the poor girl working in a Sports Direct warehouse who gave birth there and concealed the babe? She has been arrested. Sports Direct are infamous for using zero hours’ contracts*.
I was looking up Jacob Rees-Mogg yesterday. His mother wants to build houses in the feudal sounding village that the Rees-Moggs occupy.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2534126/Tory-MP-faces-peasants-revolt-mothers-plan-build-housing-estate-just-yards-conservation-area.html
Jacob registers £11,000 per month from Somerset Capital Management which he co-founded (clientele includes P Charles and Croc wife) and according to Wikipedia, *approves of zero hours’ contracts. Well he would wouldn’t he.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Rees-Mogg
Some of the names there will make you laugh.
He married well and has produced 4 little Rees-Moggs in 5 years. Well done Jacob.
Technical Bit Again,
There appears to be a DNS resolution problem making it appear as if squonk is offline for most. However, as far as I can figure everything is ok. I’m a bit puzzled by this – currently many ISPs fail to connect. DNSCrypyt (encrypted/secure name to IP number service) can still reliably resolve squonk.tk which is interesting.
Hopefully just a weird bug which will resolve itself shortly.
Edit: There seems to be a problem with the .tk name-servers. Waiting for a fix.
Bravo Harry!
Shocking Brian I agree. Here’s a little insight:
I can see the trick by this devious, sly and corrupt bunch of establishment gate-keepers is to create a conundrum, an entanglement to divide the nation.
This sinister little maneuver is easy to comprehend when you realise these bandits will pitch struggling young families against a contrived ‘turmoil’ over OAP benefits.
This is how the treachery works:
Agent Cameron (the bad guy) appears to ditch pledge that winter fuel allowance, free bus passes and TV licenses for the over-75s are maintained while Osborne (the good guy) states: ‘The commitment we made to pensioners was made on a set of values: a belief in the security, dignity of old age. That’s not going to change’
This nasty statagem works well on a number of levels because Labour (the opposition) the so called ‘socialist’ party has also pledged to stop winter fuel payments to 600,000++ pensioners.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/Turmoil-OAP-benefits-PM…
Happy 2014 posters – it is warming to connect at this place and again witness the tenacity, backbone and courage of Craig’s ‘family’ of support.
Problems with .tk domains. Most ISPs can’t connect due to a DNS problem. Some still can but that may timeout soon. Site will be available at http://squonk.no-ip.biz/blog/ (bookmark it now!) if I can’t get the .tk domain sorted. Note site available now on that address but links may go to the wrong domain until I change the registered domain in WordPress.
Squonk’s IP address is 54.229.224.252 for those who know how to manually add squonk.tk into hostname table
Ok the company behind .tk domains appears to still be in business and they put out a press release just a few weeks ago saying they were expanding – http://www.freenom.com/en/freenom_pressrelease_12172013.pdf
If not fixed by tomorrow I will call a computer journalist friend and I’m sure they will look into it.
And we appear to be back folks. Got an email from freenom support (parent company behind dot.tk) saying they were working on the problem shortly before squonk.tk started resolving again.
Sorry for downtime but it was outside of my control.
Hello! Sorry you have had all this bother today Squonk. I saw Clark’s message on the al Hilli thread for which thanks Clark. I have tried to get on several times during the day without success. The alternative address enabled me to read the blog but did not let me read the comments or to make a comment.
Yes Mary, I would have had to change the blog’s registered address in WordPress settings to make it fully operational on the alternative address and I held back on doing that once I realised that their helpdesk was still operating when it assigned me a ticket number for the problem report. They said in a recent press release they would be moving servers so maybe something went wrong during that.
In any case we are back and I can’t complain too much as it is free!
I was going to ask you how much running this blog costs in case we should club together but you have given the answer. Hard to believe that anything is free these days.
It always seems to be problems with the non-serving servers!
Earlier I mentioned the childbirth in a Sports Direct distribution centre. I read the Guardian in a caff at lunchtime and learnt that the mother is East European and has been arrested. I bet she was earning a pittance and was brought in by an agency although the article did not say this.
Miliband E plans to put a stop to the loophole that allows such agencies to operate. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/05/uk-dependency-foreign-labour-miliband
In sharp contrast, I read that Blair’s Windrush and Firerush companies have netted him £13m in profits. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/05/tony-blair-businesses-amass-13m-cash-surge-profits
Gideon plans to screw the poor some more to achieve a £25bn cut in expenditure. Remember him on a train without the right ticket. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20008342
Hypocrites all.
Mary,
The domain (squonk.tk) itself is free as long as it remains active. The actual hosting on Amazon is free for a year. Some reviews say that Amazon don’t bother to shutdown sites that just re-register for another year free at the end of the first year (ultimately they want you to expand to the point the free tier isn’t enough and you have to pay them for additional resources) but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. There are other free (or almost free) alternatives if I have to leave Amazon.
Why so much secrecy on the no go crash site of the Pave Hawk US helicopter which was on a ‘training exercise’? The helicopter contained ‘ammunition’ according to a Chief Supt Bob Scully of Norfolk Policy speaking to the press just now. What was the ammunition?
A second helicopter landed at the site afterwards apparently. ????
Hope the ammo was not ‘nuclear’ or poses some other environmental hazard. Do you remember how Bush used to pronounce that word?
We are defo a satellite US state. Get their bases and their junk off our soil.
http://news.sky.com/story/1191721/us-helicopter-crashes-on-north-norfolk-coast
We must get together for a collection for the Israeli Embassy in London for more staff. They appear to have only one person answering e-mails and he is away until the 13th Jan.
Automatic reply: Release Sireen Khudairy
I will be away from the office until 13 January included. I will not have access to my email account.
Best Regards,
Greg Halimi
Public Diplomacy Department
Embassy of Israel
2 Palace Green
London W8 4QB
~~~~
This is Sireen, a teacher, re-arrested yesterday.
Sireen Khudairy was arrested again at 4am on Tuesday 7th January 2014. According to reports she has been taken to Huwwara military point. When the Israeli army took her from her home they didn’t show any papers to her or the person she was with.
This follows 8 months of harassment of this 24 year old Palestinian woman who is a teacher and supporter of the non-violent activist. She was previously imprisoned from May to July 2013, and has been subjected to frequent harassment ever since. See further details at http://freesireen.wordpress.com/2013/12/08/appeal-for-action-call-on-the-israeli-occupation-forces-to-stop-their-intimidation-and-harassment-of-sireen-khudairy/#more-98.
http://freesireen.wordpress.com/
Helicopter crashed near Cley Marshes a popular bird sanctuary and within a wildlife reserve. There have been calls to radio Norfolk this morning, nothing else seem to matter, of communities fed up with frequent and ignorant military helicopters using their area as training ground.
lets hope no birds have been killed by these fighting men in their flying machine’s. That said, those on board had life’s were brothers, uncles, sisters, they might have children who are now grieving.
I can’t, they are soldiers afterall, this being a blackhawk essentially, they have fought others without applying emotions or thoughts of ethics. Blackhawkdown 2.
The ammunition ‘poses a hazard to the public’ according to Norfolk Police’s Chief Supt Scully. DU or similar??
Agent Cameron in his capacity i/c of this US satellite state gives heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.
Mark Duggan was ‘lawfully killed’. 8 to 2 decision from the jury. ‘Lawfully killed’ – what chilling words.
The five questions jurors were asked to answer were:
•Did the Metropolitan Police Service and Serious Organised Crime Agency do their best to gather and react to intelligence about the possibility of Mark Duggan collecting a gun?
•Was the stop conducted in a location and in a way so as to minimise recourse to lethal force?
•Did Mr Duggan have the gun with him in the taxi immediately before the stop?
•How did the gun get to the grass area where it was later found?
•When Mr Duggan received the fatal shot, did he have the gun in his hand?
Mr Cutler told the jury they would have to be sure “beyond reasonable doubt” when answering the final question.
As I heard it, the answer to the first was No and to the last also No!
Questions 2 and 3 had answers of Yes. Not sure on the answer to No 4 other than hearing of speculation that Duggan managed to throw it at the moment he was first shot in the arm and before the fatal shot to his chest.
All day not a word about the helicopters black box recorder. Not a single journo asked the right questions. A lot of fuel spilled apparently, they will have to do a bit of decontamination.
I’m sure the RSPB will scream loudest and get as much out of this as they possiblyt can.
The BBC keep singing the praises of the Pave Hawk. They would wouldn’t they.
What is the horizontal tube at the front? Doesn’t it look an evil war machine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flickr_-_DVIDSHUB_-_212th_Rescue_Squadron_and_509th_Infantry_Regiment_%28Airborne%29_train_with_each_other_%28Image_1_of_13%29.jpg
There is another US military helicopter crash in Virginia. Four rescued and one dead presumably.
PS Sorry link does not work. Copy and paste maybe?
Mary, I fixed your link.
True story about a US base.
About 30 years ago I knew a former US Navy guy who once told me he helped smuggle LSD into the UK for the CIA via RAF Edzell (US Navy facility despite the name) – I thought he was winding me up at the time.
Fairly recently I was talking, by chance, to someone who claimed to have been involved in drug smuggling in the 70s. When he told me that he used to personally pick up suitcases full of LSD from RAF Edzell in the 70s, you could have knocked me down with a feather. And no I hadn’t told him anything about what I’d previously heard. I now assume as probable fact that RAF Edzell was used for smuggling drugs into the UK in the 70s.
Thanks Squonk for correcting the link. I tried to make it stick three times but time ran out on the edit.
Your story on LSD is interesting. Not a long stretch then to the stories about the CIA and drug running from Afghanistan.
My question answered on the probe on the Pave Hawk. It’s for refuelling.
‘Pave Hawk mission equipment includes a retractable in-flight refueling probe, internal auxiliary fuel tanks, two crew-served 7.62mm or .50 caliber machineguns, and an 8,000-pound (3,600 kilograms) capacity cargo hook. To improve air transportability and shipboard operations, all HH-60Gs have folding rotor blades.’ http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/about_the_pave_hawk_helicopter_which_was_involved_in_tonight_s_crash_in_cley_north_norfolk_1_3182485
A friend who is very knowledgeable on DU weaponry was told that it is common practice for these US crews to launch a target into the sea and then shoot it up. The friend says – ‘If they have been doing this off the Norfolk coast, it is as Dundrennan in Scotland. Beyond outrageous. The emergency people should be very careful. The Geiger counters they use must pick up alpha, beta, gamma and air samples. Even emergency services do some of the former, but forget air. Testing also went on at Eskmeals.’
Some information and background
http://www.wandsworth-stopwar.org.uk/du/uk.htm
http://www.freepress.org/Backup/UnixBackup/pubhtml/kosovo/duweapon.html
The ex-US Navy guy went on to work for a computer company which had a lot of kit in use by the US and UK military. He sadly died of a heart attack at a relatively young age so I can’t get back in touch with him. He had a lot of tales most of which I didn’t believe at the time – probably they were all true!
still not a word about the black box in the news, not a peep, because it would throw up the conversation and technical failings that might have occured. Two residents, overflown by a low helicopter reported that the noise from it did not sound right.
It would also show whether these helicopters been on a target shooting mission at night, as said by Mary above, they would have talked about it with their command and control as they approached the sea.
all comments on this story are censored, roads are still shut off and the remains of the crew will be recovered tomorrow, possibly, so they say.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/helicopter_did_not_sound_right_salthouse_couple_tell_of_moments_before_crash_at_cley_1_3182391
Another friend who lives locally has been assured by the Norfolk Police press office that there was no DU tipped ammo aboard. We take that as a Yes!
The CO said that the crew made the ‘ultimate sacrifice’. Just like all those brown- skinned people that the US and their partners, including us, have killed, shredded, maimed and burned.
Questions mount on US helicopter crash
9th January 2014
Peter Lazenby
Why was heavily armed foreign warplane allowed to fly over Norfolk countryside?
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-25de-Questions-mount-on-US-helicopter-crash
“As usual, anything to do with the US military is shrouded with secrecy and we may never know what happened as the US military will want to take over the investigation themselves.”
I have never put an FoI request to the BBC, but I’m sure they had a few news organistions asking asking and paying for the news surrounding the events at Cley marshes. Below is one I’m asking to the newspaper, see what brick bats result from that.
To whom it may concern
dear madam/sir
I hereby ask, under the Freedom of Information Act, to know which particular news agencies and/or organisations have paid the EDP for stories and Information regarding the US Pave G60 HH helicopter crash in Cley marshes.
yours sincerely
name
There are now 20 related or slightly related articles on the EDP website which have led me to believe that the death of these four airwo/men must be good business, hence the FoI request.
Regarding helicopters, the Clutha Bar disaster still seems to be regarded as an ‘accident’ or a ‘tragedy’. No one seems to be questioning the legality of landing a helicopter on some randomly chosen flat roof.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter#Constructive_manslaughter
I note the Daily Mail is heavily censoring comments on the USAF crash. Only two comments have been allowed through so far on the crash reports.
Strange that no follow-up was made on the finding of bullets around the crash scene. Do US military helicopters routinely fly around our country fully armed? Were these bullets DU, or just the standard issue? What other weapons were aboard?
A chief superintendent Bob Sully of Norfolk says the ammo is “of no great significance” – ” It is bullets, if you will, but those are scattered about that area that I just described to you, and so the site is hazardous to members of the public…”
Bullets, by themselves, are hazardous to members of the public? Really? He concluded, “… there is no risk to members of the public if this section of marshland is avoided.”
It’s so wonderful that our public servants are always looking after our safety.
My comments above on DU tipped ammunition Glenn.
http://squonk.tk/blog/2013/12/30/harry-fear-who-will-save-israel-from-itself/comment-page-1/#comment-2207
http://squonk.tk/blog/2013/12/30/harry-fear-who-will-save-israel-from-itself/comment-page-1/#comment-2216
(the reply to the question about DU from Norfolk Police came in an e-mail by return. Apparently in previous cases, there have always been denials)
I hope that Boris does not have any deaths ensuing from these station closures on his conscience.
9 January 2014
Protest as 10 London fire stations shut down
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25640673
Nevermind. Why would little Chloe Smith (as I like to refer to her) claim over £500 for legal fees from the taxpayers?
‘Among the more unusual claims, many MPs have claimed for unexplained legal costs, including Foreign Secretary William Hague, ex-minister Chloe Smith, Angela Eagle, Nicholas Soames and the outspoken Peter Bone, who each charged £577.70.’
The troughers trough on.
Carry On Claiming: MPs’ £4.5m Expenses
Over four years after the big expenses scandal, those MPs who remain in the Commons are still claiming millions from taxpayers.
http://news.sky.com/story/1192817/carry-on-claiming-mps-4-5m-expenses
And they want their pay rise too. If they get one, rest assured the expenses claims will still continue to escalate.
Earlier in the week there was a major crisis in the A&E at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. Nurses were seen crying under the strain.
Royal Victoria Hospital: Protests Over A&E
The hospital declared a major emergency and more than 40 patients were left on trolleys in scenes described as ‘chaos’.
http://news.sky.com/story/1192782/royal-victoria-hospital-protests-over-a-and-e
The staff in another NI hospital had to deal with sort of behaviour.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/intensive-care-patient-beaten-by-partner-and-sister-as-he-lay-semiconscious-in-altnagelvin-hospital-court-told-29893866.html
The NI health service is ‘led’ by Edwin Poots. Unreal.
‘Poots is a young earth creationist and rejects the theory of evolution.] In the same interview, when asked by BBC presenter William Crawley how old the Earth was, Poots replied: “My view on the earth is that it’s a young earth. My view is 4,000 BC.” Young earth creationism is accepted by the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, of which Poots is a member, and other conservative evangelicals in Northern Ireland. He is close to the Caleb Foundation, a creationist lobby.
Poots caused some controversy by banning blood donations from gay people, saying “I think that people who engage in high-risk sexual behaviour in general should be excluded from giving blood.”
In September 2013 Poots confirmed his opposition to the LGBT lifestyle and community when, as Health Minister for Northern Ireland, he fought the ruling that would bring laws around LGBT adoption in N.I. into line with mainland UK.’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Poots
Do you remember Craig’s dealings with Tim Spicer?
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/?s=tim+spicer
This is Felicity Arbuthnot on Maj Gen Binns late of occupied Basra, back in action there via Spicer’s revolving door marked Aegis. Anything for the money.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/01/britain-profiting-from-destruction-of-basra/
Major General Graham John Binns CBE DSO MC is a retired British Army officer. Binns served as General Officer Commanding 1st Armoured Division and then Commandant Joint Services Command and Staff College. He had previously commanded the 7th Armoured Brigade (the “Desert Rats”) during Operation Telic 1 when they took Basra in southern Iraq. He is the Honorary Colonel of The Yorkshire Regiment and Chief Executive of Aegis Defence Services.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Binns
‘TAYBEH, Israel (AP) — Israel’s powerful and outspoken foreign minister has enraged the country’s Arab minority by proposing that some of its towns and villages be handed over to a future Palestine in exchange for parts of the West Bank where Jewish settlers live.
The proposal, rejected by both Palestinians and other Israeli leaders, nonetheless has deepened Arab fears that they are not welcome in the Jewish state and leaves them in the awkward position of insisting on staying Israeli. They say that their solidarity with their Palestinian brethren does not mean they are disloyal to their own country and should not be treated as second-class citizens.’
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Population-swap-idea-angers-Israel-s-Arab-minority-5130290.php
PS The ‘powerful and outspoken foreign minister’ is an ex nightclub bouncer, Avigdor Lieberman.
Mary, thanks for your ongoing news links.
A Good piece by William Blum….although i have been reading of Syrian Horrors for over a year or so… this sentence at the Start of Blum’s piece Stil stands True…i got shivers this morning Re-reading just that first line –
“The horrors reported each day from Syria and Iraq are enough to make one cry; in particular, the atrocities carried out by the al-Qaeda types” – W. Blum
” More recently the US has supported awful jihadists in Libya and Syria, with awful consequences.
It would, moreover, be difficult to name a single brutal dictatorship of the second half of the 20th Century that was not supported by the United States; not only supported, but often put into power and kept in power against the wishes of the population. And in recent years as well, Washington has supported very repressive governments, such as Saudi Arabia, Honduras, Indonesia, Egypt, Colombia, Qatar, and Israel.
Not exactly the grand savior our sad old world is yearning for. (Oh, did I mention that Washington’s policies create a never-ending supply of terrorists?)” – W. Blum –
The only thing i’m at odds with… in Blum’s piece… is his solid statement that Iran was responsible for the bombing of PamAm Flight 103 on December 21 over Lockerbie –
“The 1988 crime was actually organized by Iran in retaliation for the American shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane in July of the same year, which took the lives of 290 people. It was carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), a 1968 breakaway from a component of the Palestine Liberation Organization, with some help from Syria. And this version was very widely accepted in the Western world, in government and media circles. Until the US buildup to the Gulf War came along in 1990 and the support of Iran and Syria was needed. Then, suddenly, we were told that it was Libya behind the crime.”
William Blum –
http://williamblum.org/aer/read/124
The reason i feel at Odds with this Statement… is that there were several other possible factors at work…including Diamonds, and Yellow cake mining ( mostly illegal) in Namibia. What a web they weave.
From Global Research we have this Piece –
Thatcher “proud to be British”
Within four months of the Lockerbie disaster, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher decided to make a whistle-stop tour of southern Africa, and found time to visit Namibia’s Rössing Uranium Mine where she was accompanied by David Cameron, then a youthful Conservative Central Office researcher.
Mrs Thatcher was so impressed by the Rössing Uranium Mine that she declared it made her “proud to be British”.
While Mrs Thatcher was in Namibia, she put improper pressure on the UN’s man, Martti Ahtisaari, head of the United Nations Transition Assistance Group, to permit the South African Defence Force (SADF) to take action against SWAPO soldiers who were peacefully returning to Namibia to vote in the November 1989 independence elections.
As a result, as many as 308 SWAPO soldiers were killed – “shot in the back” according to former SADF major Nico Basson.
Whether Mrs Thatcher could have persuaded UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, to agree to such treachery we shall never know since Mr Carlsson was assassinated fifteen weeks earlier, on 21st December 1988.
Bernt Carlsson lays down the law
The man responsible for Namibia under international law, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, spoke about these prosecutions in a World In Action TV documentary “The Case of the Disappearing Diamonds” which was broadcast by Thames Television in September 1987:
“The United Nations this year in July started legal action against one such company – the Dutch company URENCO which imports uranium.”
When asked if he would be taking action against other companies such as De Beers, the diamond mining conglomerate, Bernt Carlsson replied:
“All the companies which are carrying out activities in Namibia which have not been authorised by the United Nations are being studied at present.
“As far as De Beers is concerned, the corporation has been trying to skim the cream which means they have gone for the large diamonds at the expense of the steady pace. In this way they have really shortened the lifespan of the mines.
“One would expect from a worldwide corporation like De Beers and Anglo-American that they would behave with an element of social and political responsibility. But their behaviour in the specific case of Namibia has been one of profit maximation regardless of its social, economic, political and even legal responsibility.”
Delay in closing the UF6 loophole
In 1988, US Congressional Democrats began working to close the UF6 loophole. The State Department’s Office of Non-proliferation and Export Policy did as well, declaring:
“It is not possible to avoid the provisions of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act by swapping flags or obligations on natural uranium physically of South African origin before it enters the USA.”
Nevertheless, Rössing managed to delay the implementation of restrictions which could have put it out of business. And – in the end – that delay sufficed: apartheid South Africa and other negotiating parties signed an independence accord on 22nd December 1988.
It was on his way to the signing of the agreement at UN headquarters in New York, that UN Commissioner for Namibia Bernt Carlsson became the highest profile victim of the Pan Am Flight 103 crash at Lockerbie on 21st December 1988.
URENCO case dropped
“Following Bernt Carlsson’s untimely death in the Lockerbie bombing, the case against URENCO was inexplicably dropped and no further prosecutions took place of the companies and countries that were in breach of the United Nations Council for Namibia Decree No. 1.
Despite this fairly obvious evidence that Bernt Carlsson was the prime target on Pan Am Flight 103, there has never been a murder investigation conducted by the CIA, FBI, Scottish Police or indeed by the United Nations.
Instead, fabricated evidence has been used to frame and wrongfully convict the Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for the crime of Lockerbie.”
By – By Patrick Haseldine For Global research –
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-downing-of-flight-103-over-lockerbie-it-was-the-uranium/5364222
Yes Brian. Bill Blum always hits the nail on the head. Amazing strength of mind and vigour for a 81 year old.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blum
One thing though. He hardly ever mentions Israel’s part in the war crimes or its close links to the US.
BrianFujisan, thanks for the link to Patrick Haseldine’s article. Haseldine is an interesting character, a former diplomat who, like Craig, was stitched up for disagreeing with the political powers at that time.
Haseldine is an editor at Wikipedia and has been involved in a dispute there. I suspect that there is much insight to be gained into the workings of Wikipedia and how Wikipedia is manipulated for propaganda purposes by reading through the dispute and evaluating Haseldine’s opponents and their tactics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:PJHaseldine
Does anyone know what the “UF6 loophole” is? Does UF6 refer to uranium hexafluoride?
UF4 is uranium tetrafluoride, one of the nuclear fuel salts that can be used in a molten salt reactor. As I understand it, uranium containing various isotopes (U235, U238 etc.) is combined with fluorine to make uranium hexafluoride which, when heated slightly, becomes gaseous and thus suitable for isotopic separation by the gas centrifuge or gas diffusion methods. Making UF6 is therefore a step in the process of uranium enrichment.