There has been widespread condemnation of Benazir Bhutto's assassination. But there has also been widespread denial of who was responsible for this brazen act.
So often nowadays whenever something bad happens it is blamed on "terrorists". So it is in this case. The unpalatable truth for the "international community" is that Benazir was murdered by the Pakistani armed force/secret police on the orders of Dictator Musharraf.
This is not just another conspiracy theory. This is based on facts.
The Pakistani armed forces have form when it comes to the Bhutto family. They murdered Benazir's father and two brothers.
The motives for Benazir's murder are clear. With her dead and Nawaz Shariff banned, the path is clear for Dictator Musharaff's cronies to "win" the upcoming election. Or even better, the anarchy caused by the assassination is the perfect excuse to cancel the election.
There armed forces/secret police of course have all the means to carry out the assassination. They are the world's experts when it comes to political murders.
And the armed forces/secret police certainly had the opportunity to carry out the assassination. Not only was the assassination carried in Rawalpindi, the home of the Pakistan Army, the secret police were "protecting" Benazir and therefore had knowledge of her movements. And needless to say the assassin would have been able to get near Benazir easily without any of her "protectors" stopping him.
Benazir herself has stated many time that elements in the armed forces were conspiring to murder her.
Despite all of this evidence that Dictator Musharaff was responsible for Benazir's murder the world turns a blind eye and lauds him as "the key ally in the war on terror".
The biggest complaint Muslims have with the "international community" is not Palestine or Kashmir. It is the fact that they aid and abet murderous tyrants across the Islamic world. Murderous tyrants like Dictator Musharaff. Then they wonder why frustrated Muslims commit mass murder in New York, Bali, Madrid, London, Istanbul etc.
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Good on Ya, Cobber
The Aussies, at least 53% of them, have finally seen sense and kicked John Howard out. It's about time.
Sunday, 4 November 2007
Hypocrisy Overdose
The week started with the dictator of Saudi Arabia paying a state visit to Britain.
Here was a man who runs one of the most authoritarian, oppressive countries in the world. A country where there isn't an ounce of democracy - all power is held by the Al Sauds. A country where public executions, amputations, flogging and torture are routine. A country where women are treated worse than animals. A country where there is no free media. A country that gave the world Al Qaeda - fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, Bin Laden is Saudi, most of the foreign Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq are Saudi.
Yet despite all this, the red carpet was rolled out and Prince Philip von Oldenburg wheeled out to greet dictator Abdullah Al Saud. All Britain's principles and beliefs were brushed under that carpet just because they buy arms from us and supply us with oil.
The week ended with the dictator of Pakistan staging yet another coup to hold onto power. The "international community's" reaction has been as ambivalent as it was when he staged his first coup all the way back in September 1999.
Condoleeza Rice has stated that "the US has made clear that it does not support extra-constitutional measures because those measures would take Pakistan away from the path of democracy and civilian rule". This hasn't stopped the US from propping up dictator Musharraf for the past eight years.
This week has indeed seen an overdose of hypocrisy by the "international community". They are quick to condemn dictatorships in Burma, Zimbabwe, Iran, Syria and pre-invasion Iraq but at they same time they either prop up or turn a blind eye to dictatorships in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt, Algeria, Libya and numerous others.
Here was a man who runs one of the most authoritarian, oppressive countries in the world. A country where there isn't an ounce of democracy - all power is held by the Al Sauds. A country where public executions, amputations, flogging and torture are routine. A country where women are treated worse than animals. A country where there is no free media. A country that gave the world Al Qaeda - fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, Bin Laden is Saudi, most of the foreign Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq are Saudi.
Yet despite all this, the red carpet was rolled out and Prince Philip von Oldenburg wheeled out to greet dictator Abdullah Al Saud. All Britain's principles and beliefs were brushed under that carpet just because they buy arms from us and supply us with oil.
The week ended with the dictator of Pakistan staging yet another coup to hold onto power. The "international community's" reaction has been as ambivalent as it was when he staged his first coup all the way back in September 1999.
Condoleeza Rice has stated that "the US has made clear that it does not support extra-constitutional measures because those measures would take Pakistan away from the path of democracy and civilian rule". This hasn't stopped the US from propping up dictator Musharraf for the past eight years.
This week has indeed seen an overdose of hypocrisy by the "international community". They are quick to condemn dictatorships in Burma, Zimbabwe, Iran, Syria and pre-invasion Iraq but at they same time they either prop up or turn a blind eye to dictatorships in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt, Algeria, Libya and numerous others.
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Guilty Free
The Met Police may have been found guilty of endangering the public but not one single person will be punished for the murder the Jean Charles de Menezes.
All those responsible for the murder, from the Commissioner to the two thugs who pinned Jean Charles to the seat and shot him seven times at point blank range, have got away with their crimes and are walking free.
It is the taxpayers of London who will end up paying the £560,000 fine and legal costs. The same taxpayers for whom it is now clear that there is no protection from the wreckless actions of the police.
All those responsible for the murder, from the Commissioner to the two thugs who pinned Jean Charles to the seat and shot him seven times at point blank range, have got away with their crimes and are walking free.
It is the taxpayers of London who will end up paying the £560,000 fine and legal costs. The same taxpayers for whom it is now clear that there is no protection from the wreckless actions of the police.
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Liars, Damned Liars and the Met Police
Of what relevance is it that Jean Charles de Menzes had cocaine traces in his urine? None. This just another attempt by the Met Police to smear de Menzes.
Right from the moment they shot de Menezes dead, the Met have been concocting lies aimed at smearing him.
Lies such as that de Menezes was wearing a large bulky jacket.
Lies such as that de Menezes ignored Police orders to stop outside the tube station.
Lies such as that de Menezes vaulted over the barriers.
Lies fabricated to smear him . Lies aimed at diverting attention away from the fact that de Menezes was murdered by the Metropolitan Police Service.
Right from the moment they shot de Menezes dead, the Met have been concocting lies aimed at smearing him.
Lies such as that de Menezes was wearing a large bulky jacket.
Lies such as that de Menezes ignored Police orders to stop outside the tube station.
Lies such as that de Menezes vaulted over the barriers.
Lies fabricated to smear him . Lies aimed at diverting attention away from the fact that de Menezes was murdered by the Metropolitan Police Service.
Thursday, 11 October 2007
A Matter of Regret
If 15 Americans, or God forbid 15 Jews, had been killed it would have been the end of the world as we know it.
15 Iraqis, six women and nine children, are murdered by the US Air Force and it is "a matter of regret".
15 Iraqis, six women and nine children, are murdered by the US Air Force and it is "a matter of regret".
The Shit Hits the Fan
Patients being asked to soil themselves in bed. Excrement all over the floor, bathroom and beds. It was like something from a Romanian orphanage circa 1990. Alas it was worse. Much worse.
This was the British NHS in the 21st century. Even worse than that, if that's possible, was that this was my local hospital. A hospital that I had visited far too often, though thankfully never as a patient. A hospital which three members of my family have worked in or are working in. A hospital that I lived a stone's throw from for six years.
And now here it was, all over the news, the shame of the whole country. The local hospital has a special place in the hearts of the British people. To see it being torn to shreds in the world media is an unusual feeling.
Why did this happen? There has been too much political interference in the NHS.
It is being reformed simply because of political ideology. The NHS was workig perfectly well before the Tories started reforming it in the 1980s. If we are unfortunate enough to fall ill we don't want to choose between a handful of mediocre hospitals. We want to receive immediate first class treatment at our local hospital.
It is continually being restructured, often unnecessarily. Do you know the name of the trusts which run your hospital or provide your GP service?
Too much of the support services, including cleaning, have been privatised through the back door. These private companies charge the NHS billions for their service but then cut corners in the provision of the service, such as providing unskilled untrained staff to carry out very important work.
How did this happen? The NHS is run by unaccountable quangos. They spend over £100 billion of taxpayers money and make decision that affect every single person in this country and yet most people haven't got a clue as to who they are. Can you name a single one of the thousands of NHS trustees?
The solution? Abolish the NHS and replace it with local health services run by democratically accountable councils.
This was the British NHS in the 21st century. Even worse than that, if that's possible, was that this was my local hospital. A hospital that I had visited far too often, though thankfully never as a patient. A hospital which three members of my family have worked in or are working in. A hospital that I lived a stone's throw from for six years.
And now here it was, all over the news, the shame of the whole country. The local hospital has a special place in the hearts of the British people. To see it being torn to shreds in the world media is an unusual feeling.
Why did this happen? There has been too much political interference in the NHS.
It is being reformed simply because of political ideology. The NHS was workig perfectly well before the Tories started reforming it in the 1980s. If we are unfortunate enough to fall ill we don't want to choose between a handful of mediocre hospitals. We want to receive immediate first class treatment at our local hospital.
It is continually being restructured, often unnecessarily. Do you know the name of the trusts which run your hospital or provide your GP service?
Too much of the support services, including cleaning, have been privatised through the back door. These private companies charge the NHS billions for their service but then cut corners in the provision of the service, such as providing unskilled untrained staff to carry out very important work.
How did this happen? The NHS is run by unaccountable quangos. They spend over £100 billion of taxpayers money and make decision that affect every single person in this country and yet most people haven't got a clue as to who they are. Can you name a single one of the thousands of NHS trustees?
The solution? Abolish the NHS and replace it with local health services run by democratically accountable councils.
Thursday, 27 September 2007
Resistance is Futile
By the world's reaction to the protests in Burma you wouldn't think that a military junta had been in power there for 45 years. During their long reign of terror the military junta has murdered tens of thousands ethnic minorities and political opponents. Burma's vast natural resources have been plundered by corrupt generals and foreign companies. Why all of a sudden is the Burmese military junta public enemy number one, at least in western eyes?
There are echoes of Iraq with what is happening in Burma now. Saddam Hussein was in power for 30 years but suddenly in 2001 he became the biggest threat to world security. Will history repeat itself? No, there will be no international military intervention in Burma. Instead the world has called for "restraint". The west has applied targeted sanctions but this is a futile gesture as only a tiny fraction of Burma's trade is with the west.
Only Burma's neighbours can make a difference but they have been deafening in their silence. The streets of Burma are flowing with blood as Burma's neighbours protect their economic interests. As long as Burma's neighbours, particularly China, act selfishly and do nothing the Burmese military junta will stay in power and continue to do whatever it likes.
So many of the world's tyrannies survive only thanks to the patronage of powerful neighbours: South Africa in Zimbabwe, China in North Korea and Burma. These tyrannies can only be ended if the world takes a firm stance against their protectors. Will the world stand-up to China? Will the world boycott next year's Olympics if China doesn't stop protecting the Burmese military junta? Will these protests achieve anything? Will there ever be democracy in Burma?
No. Viva the mighty dollar.
There are echoes of Iraq with what is happening in Burma now. Saddam Hussein was in power for 30 years but suddenly in 2001 he became the biggest threat to world security. Will history repeat itself? No, there will be no international military intervention in Burma. Instead the world has called for "restraint". The west has applied targeted sanctions but this is a futile gesture as only a tiny fraction of Burma's trade is with the west.
Only Burma's neighbours can make a difference but they have been deafening in their silence. The streets of Burma are flowing with blood as Burma's neighbours protect their economic interests. As long as Burma's neighbours, particularly China, act selfishly and do nothing the Burmese military junta will stay in power and continue to do whatever it likes.
So many of the world's tyrannies survive only thanks to the patronage of powerful neighbours: South Africa in Zimbabwe, China in North Korea and Burma. These tyrannies can only be ended if the world takes a firm stance against their protectors. Will the world stand-up to China? Will the world boycott next year's Olympics if China doesn't stop protecting the Burmese military junta? Will these protests achieve anything? Will there ever be democracy in Burma?
No. Viva the mighty dollar.
Saturday, 1 September 2007
9 out of 10 Celebrities Prefer Tesco
Question: What organisation can buy all these famous people: Cilla Black, Emma Bunton, Naomi Campbell, Ronnie Corbett, Paul Daniels, Barry Davies, Frankie Dettori, David Dickinson, Noel Edmonds, Bruce Forsythe, Jane Horrocks, Bob Hoskins, Martine McCutcheon, John McEnroe, Jimmy Nail, James Nesbitt, Graham Norton, Prunella Scales, Timothy Spall, Alan Titchmarsh, Tommy Walsh, Julie Walters, Barbara Windsor, Kevin Whately, Alan Whicker, Richard Wilson and Terry Wogan?
Answer: Tesco.
All of the above have appeared in or done voice overs for Tesco's TV adverts in the UK. But they aren't the only ones. The world wide web isn't big enough to name all the celebrities who have sold out to Tesco. The latest to to fall prey is Bjorn Borg. Is there no stopping this monster?
Answer: Tesco.
All of the above have appeared in or done voice overs for Tesco's TV adverts in the UK. But they aren't the only ones. The world wide web isn't big enough to name all the celebrities who have sold out to Tesco. The latest to to fall prey is Bjorn Borg. Is there no stopping this monster?
Friday, 31 August 2007
Where Were You When JFK Was Shot?
This seminal moment for a whole generation came before I was born. So did the landing on the Moon.
My generation's moment came on 31st August 1997, the death of Diana, the Real Princess of Wales. For me it was just a normal Sunday, like a hundred Sundays before and a hundred Sundays since. And yet I remember it like it was yesterday.
It's funny how ordinary events, that would normally be washed away by time, attach themselves to extraordinary events so as to stay in our memories for eternity.
My generation's moment came on 31st August 1997, the death of Diana, the Real Princess of Wales. For me it was just a normal Sunday, like a hundred Sundays before and a hundred Sundays since. And yet I remember it like it was yesterday.
It's funny how ordinary events, that would normally be washed away by time, attach themselves to extraordinary events so as to stay in our memories for eternity.
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Cause and Effect
60 years ago India achieved independence from the British after a long struggle.
India was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. It's independence would signal the beginning of the end of the largest empire the World has known. It was a huge blow for Britain. But the British thought they could have the final laugh.
Aided by the self-serving paranoids of the Muslim League, the British would partition India on their leaving and create the wholly artificial state of Pakistan. This partition would not only result in a million deaths and the largest human movement in history (15 million people). It would cast a shadow over the sub-continent that lasts to this day. A shadow that now includes the possibility of nuclear holocaust.
Pakistan is a failed state. It's a failed state because it is an artificial state. It's people have nothing in common other than their religion.
Nothing good has come from Pakistan since it was created. For more than half it's life, including now, it has been ruled by the military, a stark contrast to India which has been a model of liberal democracy since independence. It was the Pakistani secret police which created the Islamic extremists, including the Taleban, to fight the Soviet army in Afghanistan. These extremists have now turned on the rest of the world. They are blowing themselves up and murdering others all over the world, including London. Three of the four 7/7 bombers were of Pakistani origin. Who's laughing now?
India was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. It's independence would signal the beginning of the end of the largest empire the World has known. It was a huge blow for Britain. But the British thought they could have the final laugh.
Aided by the self-serving paranoids of the Muslim League, the British would partition India on their leaving and create the wholly artificial state of Pakistan. This partition would not only result in a million deaths and the largest human movement in history (15 million people). It would cast a shadow over the sub-continent that lasts to this day. A shadow that now includes the possibility of nuclear holocaust.
Pakistan is a failed state. It's a failed state because it is an artificial state. It's people have nothing in common other than their religion.
Nothing good has come from Pakistan since it was created. For more than half it's life, including now, it has been ruled by the military, a stark contrast to India which has been a model of liberal democracy since independence. It was the Pakistani secret police which created the Islamic extremists, including the Taleban, to fight the Soviet army in Afghanistan. These extremists have now turned on the rest of the world. They are blowing themselves up and murdering others all over the world, including London. Three of the four 7/7 bombers were of Pakistani origin. Who's laughing now?
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
Part-Time Democrats
It is outrageous that so called democratic political parties should oppose a referendum on Scottish independence simply because they do not agree with the potential outcome.
If all political parties opposed referenda that might produce an outcome that they do not agree with, then there would be no referenda, ever!
Referenda are far more democratic than a cabal of 129 people who are only accountable to the 5,200,000 people they are representing once every four years.
The latest opinion polls suggest that only a minority of Scots favour independence. Surely it would be better if there was a referendum now on independence. This would be defeated and the issue could then be put aside for a generation. Scottish politics could then deal with other issues, such as health, education, crime, instead of the issue of independence always dominating the political debate.
If all political parties opposed referenda that might produce an outcome that they do not agree with, then there would be no referenda, ever!
Referenda are far more democratic than a cabal of 129 people who are only accountable to the 5,200,000 people they are representing once every four years.
The latest opinion polls suggest that only a minority of Scots favour independence. Surely it would be better if there was a referendum now on independence. This would be defeated and the issue could then be put aside for a generation. Scottish politics could then deal with other issues, such as health, education, crime, instead of the issue of independence always dominating the political debate.
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Missing You Already Tony
There’s huge void in my chest. I feel nauseous. My legs are like jelly. Tony, please don’t go.
Like all messiahs you’ve been misunderstood and persecuted for your beliefs. But we now realise that it was all a terrible mistake. We were all wrong about you.
Please come back Tony. You know you want to...
Like all messiahs you’ve been misunderstood and persecuted for your beliefs. But we now realise that it was all a terrible mistake. We were all wrong about you.
Please come back Tony. You know you want to...
Monday, 18 June 2007
Divide and Rule
It’s an age old tactic used by imperialists all over the world. And now it is being used by the Jews/Americans against the Palestinians.
A year ago the Palestinian people exercised their democratic will and elected a Hamas government. But this government had no chance to govern. The Jews/Americans and the gutless EU immediately condemned the new government. The message to the Palestinians, and to the wider Arab/Islamic world, was clear: you can choose any government you want, as long as we approve. The Jews/Americans then imposed economic sanctions and froze the Palestinian government’s funds. Then the Jews/Americans started supplying arms and money to the Fatah, the side that LOST the elections. Fatah were prepared to get into bed with the people responsible for oppressing the Palestinians for 60 years just to further their own ambitions.
Hamas cannot evade their own responsibility for the current catastrophe to befall the Palestinians. By staging the coup in Gaza they played straight into the hands of the Jews/Americans.
The prospect for an independent Palestine was always slim. The debacle in Gaza means that there will now never be an independent Palestine. The Jews/Americans may contrive to establish a Palestinian state led by Fatah but it will merely be a puppet state like Iraq and Afghanistan. Fatah have lost all credibility with the Palestinian people by collaborating with Jews/Americans.
The Palestinian people have been let down throughout history. First of all they were let down by other Arab countries who started wars on their behalf, capitulated quickly and signed peace treaties with the Jews which ignored the Palestinians. Then they were let down by the “international community” which has repeatedly failed to uphold international law. And now they have been let down by their own leaders who have walked straight into the trap laid by the Jews/Americans. The Palestinian people are doomed to spend eternity as slaves of the Jews
A year ago the Palestinian people exercised their democratic will and elected a Hamas government. But this government had no chance to govern. The Jews/Americans and the gutless EU immediately condemned the new government. The message to the Palestinians, and to the wider Arab/Islamic world, was clear: you can choose any government you want, as long as we approve. The Jews/Americans then imposed economic sanctions and froze the Palestinian government’s funds. Then the Jews/Americans started supplying arms and money to the Fatah, the side that LOST the elections. Fatah were prepared to get into bed with the people responsible for oppressing the Palestinians for 60 years just to further their own ambitions.
Hamas cannot evade their own responsibility for the current catastrophe to befall the Palestinians. By staging the coup in Gaza they played straight into the hands of the Jews/Americans.
The prospect for an independent Palestine was always slim. The debacle in Gaza means that there will now never be an independent Palestine. The Jews/Americans may contrive to establish a Palestinian state led by Fatah but it will merely be a puppet state like Iraq and Afghanistan. Fatah have lost all credibility with the Palestinian people by collaborating with Jews/Americans.
The Palestinian people have been let down throughout history. First of all they were let down by other Arab countries who started wars on their behalf, capitulated quickly and signed peace treaties with the Jews which ignored the Palestinians. Then they were let down by the “international community” which has repeatedly failed to uphold international law. And now they have been let down by their own leaders who have walked straight into the trap laid by the Jews/Americans. The Palestinian people are doomed to spend eternity as slaves of the Jews
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Monday, 4 June 2007
Sunday, 20 May 2007
End of an Era
Bliar resigning? No, something far more important. BBC has lost the rights to broadcast Neighbours. Fair dinkum. After 22 years on the Beeb the Australian soap will move to Five in 2008.
I been watching Neighbours, on and off, since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Of course, in the early days I could only watch it during the school holidays. Thankfully they brought in the evening installment in 1988.
A lot has happened in Ramsay Street since them - some good, some bad. But I have stuck with Neighbours, as have some five million others who regularly watch the show.
Sure, the BBC may have treated Neighbours fans badly. They would never publicise the show. It would be the first programme they remove from the schedule every time there were showing a sporting event. They would not show it on bank holidays using the excuse that if they didn't do that they would overtake Australia. This was a laughable excuse as Neighbours is shown for all but three weeks a year in Australia. Two weeks off for Wimbledon, at least one week off over Christmas, another five bank holidays, football world cup, European championships, Olympics and the odd horse racing meant there was never any chance of the UK catching up with Australia. However, at least the Beeb stuck with Neighbours despite audience figures falling from 18 million to 5 million.
Will Five stick with Neighbours if audience figures fall? Probably not. And if Five drops Neighbours it will surely mean the end of Neighbours. So much rests on the all-singing all-dancing Neighbours that Five's money will pay for.
5.35pm will never be the same again. What will the BBC schedule in Neighbours place? How about bringing back what they used to show at 5.35pm: the Flintstones...
I been watching Neighbours, on and off, since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Of course, in the early days I could only watch it during the school holidays. Thankfully they brought in the evening installment in 1988.
A lot has happened in Ramsay Street since them - some good, some bad. But I have stuck with Neighbours, as have some five million others who regularly watch the show.
Sure, the BBC may have treated Neighbours fans badly. They would never publicise the show. It would be the first programme they remove from the schedule every time there were showing a sporting event. They would not show it on bank holidays using the excuse that if they didn't do that they would overtake Australia. This was a laughable excuse as Neighbours is shown for all but three weeks a year in Australia. Two weeks off for Wimbledon, at least one week off over Christmas, another five bank holidays, football world cup, European championships, Olympics and the odd horse racing meant there was never any chance of the UK catching up with Australia. However, at least the Beeb stuck with Neighbours despite audience figures falling from 18 million to 5 million.
Will Five stick with Neighbours if audience figures fall? Probably not. And if Five drops Neighbours it will surely mean the end of Neighbours. So much rests on the all-singing all-dancing Neighbours that Five's money will pay for.
5.35pm will never be the same again. What will the BBC schedule in Neighbours place? How about bringing back what they used to show at 5.35pm: the Flintstones...
Thank Heaven for All Little Girls
You cannot have missed the news of the missing four year-old Madeleine McCann. It's been all over the papers. It's been the leading item on the news, ahead of the daily carnage in Iraq and the civil war in Gaza.
You cannot fault the McCann family for doing all they can to publicise the abduction. Of course it helps that they have a large, well organised extended family and wealthy friends. If only everyone was so fortunate.
What about thousands of Iraqi girls who have been murdered by the illegal American invasion and occupation? What about the millions of girls who die each year through famine and poverty? Even if you're a Sun reader and therefore don't give a damn about foreigners, what about all the other British girls who have disappeared? Nearly one thousand other British children have gone missing since Madeleine was abducted. Can you name a single one of them? The money raised by the Madeleine appeal is greater the annual budget for the National Missing Persons Bureau.
The most distasteful thing about this case is all the "Great and Good" of the land who have jumped aboard this particular band wagon: businessmen, footballers, musicians, actors, cricketers and politicians. Why?
What makes this one single girl so special?
You cannot fault the McCann family for doing all they can to publicise the abduction. Of course it helps that they have a large, well organised extended family and wealthy friends. If only everyone was so fortunate.
What about thousands of Iraqi girls who have been murdered by the illegal American invasion and occupation? What about the millions of girls who die each year through famine and poverty? Even if you're a Sun reader and therefore don't give a damn about foreigners, what about all the other British girls who have disappeared? Nearly one thousand other British children have gone missing since Madeleine was abducted. Can you name a single one of them? The money raised by the Madeleine appeal is greater the annual budget for the National Missing Persons Bureau.
The most distasteful thing about this case is all the "Great and Good" of the land who have jumped aboard this particular band wagon: businessmen, footballers, musicians, actors, cricketers and politicians. Why?
What makes this one single girl so special?
Thursday, 10 May 2007
Thirteen Years Too Late
On the night of 11th May 1994 I saw John Smith, the then leader of the Labour Party, on the news. He was stopped by a reporter in the street and asked a question about something. As John replied he got all "worked up". I thought to myself that he shouldn't be getting angry - I knew he had had a heart attack before. The following morning John Smith died of heart attack. He was aged 55.
Why is it that only the good die young? Why is the world robbed of honest decent people like John Smith and Robin Cook and yet self-serving liars such as Bliar, Mandelson and John Reid seem to go on forever?
One can only imagine what kind of a different (and better) world we would all be living in if John Smith hadn't died so young. But it wasn't meant to be. Instead, we got thirteen years of Tony Bliar.
Many people have prospered under Bliar's regime. But many, many more have suffered. And now Bliar has announced he will step down as leader of the Labour Party on 27th June. It's thirteen years too late. The damage has been done.
Bliar's final words of his resignation speech was to wish the British people good luck. Millions of British people were thinking good riddance.
Why is it that only the good die young? Why is the world robbed of honest decent people like John Smith and Robin Cook and yet self-serving liars such as Bliar, Mandelson and John Reid seem to go on forever?
One can only imagine what kind of a different (and better) world we would all be living in if John Smith hadn't died so young. But it wasn't meant to be. Instead, we got thirteen years of Tony Bliar.
Many people have prospered under Bliar's regime. But many, many more have suffered. And now Bliar has announced he will step down as leader of the Labour Party on 27th June. It's thirteen years too late. The damage has been done.
Bliar's final words of his resignation speech was to wish the British people good luck. Millions of British people were thinking good riddance.
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
Things Could Have Only Got Better
Friday 2nd May 1997. It only seems like yesterday. The hopes of millions of Britons rested with the new Labour government. After eighteen years of Tory rule Britain was ready for a change.
Ten years on, here is the clinical, rambling analysis of what the Labour government has achieved.
Under this Labour government there is now a minimum wage and everyone has the right to join a trade union but it was perfectly legal for an American to sack 670 Gate Gourmet employees via megaphone and for Mark Langford to sack 2,500 Accident Group employees via SMS text.
The gap between the rich and poor is wider now than it was ten years ago. The government may trumpet the fact that several hundred thousand children have been taken out of poverty but this, like so much of New Labour’s spin, is a subversion of the facts. In absolute terms poverty has fallen. But in relative terms, where people’s income is compared to average income, poverty has actually risen over the past ten years. One of the reasons for this is that it is the middles classes who have benefited the most from the much heralded tax credits. You can be earning as much as £60k and still claim tax credits if you have a child. But if you don't have a child, you could be earning as little as £10k and you wouldn't entitled to a penny in benefits/tax credits.
Hundreds of billions of pounds have been poured into the public sector without any discernible improvement in public services. Where has all this money gone? They have gone into the pockets of the directors of private companies involved in PPP/PFI schemes. They have gone into the pockets of GP's and consultants, most of whom now earn in excess of £100k despite working only part time in the NHS (the rest of their time is spent working in private hospitals or on the golf course). This is happening at the same time as hundreds of thousands of other NHS staff are working on the minimum wage. The government has pampered doctors and nurses but would the NHS function without the services of cleaners, porters, catering and clerical staff?
Hundreds of billions of pounds have been wasted on IT and construction contracts that have cost much more than their budget. Why is every contract between the public sector and private sector written in a so one-sided way that it is the public sector which ends up footing the bill if the project overruns or turns out to be more complex than originally thought? Would this happen in contract between two private companies? When the construction for the new Wembley stadium overran, who ended up paying for this? Certainly not the FA, the client. It was Multiplex, the contractor, who paid for the overrun. Why doesn't this happen in the public sector? Because our politicians and officials are being bribed by the contractors to sign such one-sided contracts.
And who has paid for all this? Certainly not the rich. Tax laws in Britain are now so lax that Britain is now a tax haven. Gone are the days when greedy businessmen and celebrities would hide their fortunes in an obscure Caribbean island. Now they just bring it to Britain. Seven of the top ten in the latest Sunday Times Rich List were born outside the UK.
Tax laws in Britain have also allowed it to become the home of venture capitalists. These scum buy successful companies by taking out vast loans. Tax laws allow these loans to be shown as liabilities of the companies being bought, rather than the venture capitalists. Not only does this remove all the risk associated with the loan from the venture capitalists, the huge interest to be paid on the loan is tax deductible! They then asset strip the companies and sack thousands of employees. Once they've done this they just walk away from the business, having pocketed hundreds of millions. They have raped hundreds of UK companies, including household names such as Rover and the AA. Their eyes are now set on Boots and Sainsbury's.
It is the poorest in society who have ended up paying for this governments waste and corruption. Indirect taxes have been gone up steadily over the past ten years and, by virtue of these taxes being regressive, it is the poor whose tax burden has risen the most.
Education, education, education. That was Bliar’s mantra. Yes, there are many shiny new schools where every pupil has a laptop but, again, what has this achieved? Every August government ministers pat themselves on the back after record passes at GCSEs and A Levels. But this is only achievable by fixing the grades after all the exam papers have been marked. You couldn't make it up. Even under this dodgy way of grading of exams there is growing gap in the qualifications achieved by school leavers. At the same time as record numbers are achieving the top grades, record numbers are leaving school without any qualifications. The savvy middle class are using the property market to corner places in the best schools for their children. If you can’t play this game you’re doomed to send your children to bog standard schools. The government can throw as much money as it can at these schools to improve standards but nothing will change as long as there are ghettos in our education system.
Record number of school leavers may be going to universities but what are they studying? Media studies and sociology. In the country that gave the world the industrial revolution, the number of maths, science and engineering graduates are at record low. In the market orientated world universities operate in now many are simply dropping courses in these subjects. They simply cost to much to run. At the same time China and India are churning out millions of science and engineering graduates every year. One of the few comforts of all our manufacturing jobs going abroad was that at least the designing stage was still being done in Britain. But if these jobs too are exported because a lack of appropriate graduates, what on earth are future British generations going to do for a living? Are they all going to end up working in Tesco, stacking its shelves with goods designed and manufactured abroad?
Another one of New Labour’s buzzwords was ethical foreign policy. It got off to a good start with Kosovo and Sierra Leone but it’s been downhill ever since. Ethics have been abandoned in favour of economics and national interest: China, Palestine, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran etc.
Of all the things done by New Labour in the past ten years, surely giving unconditional support to America in it’s “war on terror” was the most wreckless. Have any “terrorists” been defeated by using military force? The Boers tried to defeat the ANC, whom they and Margaret Thatcher described as terrorists, by using military force but in the end they had to admit defeat and abandon Apartheid. The Jews haven’t been able to defeat the PLO using force. Even the British had to negotiate with IRA/Sinn Fein. You don’t hijack a plane and kill thousands, including yourself, unless it’s the last resort .
Things Can Only Get Better was the anthem of the New Labour victory in 1997. How wrong it was.
Ten years on, here is the clinical, rambling analysis of what the Labour government has achieved.
Under this Labour government there is now a minimum wage and everyone has the right to join a trade union but it was perfectly legal for an American to sack 670 Gate Gourmet employees via megaphone and for Mark Langford to sack 2,500 Accident Group employees via SMS text.
The gap between the rich and poor is wider now than it was ten years ago. The government may trumpet the fact that several hundred thousand children have been taken out of poverty but this, like so much of New Labour’s spin, is a subversion of the facts. In absolute terms poverty has fallen. But in relative terms, where people’s income is compared to average income, poverty has actually risen over the past ten years. One of the reasons for this is that it is the middles classes who have benefited the most from the much heralded tax credits. You can be earning as much as £60k and still claim tax credits if you have a child. But if you don't have a child, you could be earning as little as £10k and you wouldn't entitled to a penny in benefits/tax credits.
Hundreds of billions of pounds have been poured into the public sector without any discernible improvement in public services. Where has all this money gone? They have gone into the pockets of the directors of private companies involved in PPP/PFI schemes. They have gone into the pockets of GP's and consultants, most of whom now earn in excess of £100k despite working only part time in the NHS (the rest of their time is spent working in private hospitals or on the golf course). This is happening at the same time as hundreds of thousands of other NHS staff are working on the minimum wage. The government has pampered doctors and nurses but would the NHS function without the services of cleaners, porters, catering and clerical staff?
Hundreds of billions of pounds have been wasted on IT and construction contracts that have cost much more than their budget. Why is every contract between the public sector and private sector written in a so one-sided way that it is the public sector which ends up footing the bill if the project overruns or turns out to be more complex than originally thought? Would this happen in contract between two private companies? When the construction for the new Wembley stadium overran, who ended up paying for this? Certainly not the FA, the client. It was Multiplex, the contractor, who paid for the overrun. Why doesn't this happen in the public sector? Because our politicians and officials are being bribed by the contractors to sign such one-sided contracts.
And who has paid for all this? Certainly not the rich. Tax laws in Britain are now so lax that Britain is now a tax haven. Gone are the days when greedy businessmen and celebrities would hide their fortunes in an obscure Caribbean island. Now they just bring it to Britain. Seven of the top ten in the latest Sunday Times Rich List were born outside the UK.
Tax laws in Britain have also allowed it to become the home of venture capitalists. These scum buy successful companies by taking out vast loans. Tax laws allow these loans to be shown as liabilities of the companies being bought, rather than the venture capitalists. Not only does this remove all the risk associated with the loan from the venture capitalists, the huge interest to be paid on the loan is tax deductible! They then asset strip the companies and sack thousands of employees. Once they've done this they just walk away from the business, having pocketed hundreds of millions. They have raped hundreds of UK companies, including household names such as Rover and the AA. Their eyes are now set on Boots and Sainsbury's.
It is the poorest in society who have ended up paying for this governments waste and corruption. Indirect taxes have been gone up steadily over the past ten years and, by virtue of these taxes being regressive, it is the poor whose tax burden has risen the most.
Education, education, education. That was Bliar’s mantra. Yes, there are many shiny new schools where every pupil has a laptop but, again, what has this achieved? Every August government ministers pat themselves on the back after record passes at GCSEs and A Levels. But this is only achievable by fixing the grades after all the exam papers have been marked. You couldn't make it up. Even under this dodgy way of grading of exams there is growing gap in the qualifications achieved by school leavers. At the same time as record numbers are achieving the top grades, record numbers are leaving school without any qualifications. The savvy middle class are using the property market to corner places in the best schools for their children. If you can’t play this game you’re doomed to send your children to bog standard schools. The government can throw as much money as it can at these schools to improve standards but nothing will change as long as there are ghettos in our education system.
Record number of school leavers may be going to universities but what are they studying? Media studies and sociology. In the country that gave the world the industrial revolution, the number of maths, science and engineering graduates are at record low. In the market orientated world universities operate in now many are simply dropping courses in these subjects. They simply cost to much to run. At the same time China and India are churning out millions of science and engineering graduates every year. One of the few comforts of all our manufacturing jobs going abroad was that at least the designing stage was still being done in Britain. But if these jobs too are exported because a lack of appropriate graduates, what on earth are future British generations going to do for a living? Are they all going to end up working in Tesco, stacking its shelves with goods designed and manufactured abroad?
Another one of New Labour’s buzzwords was ethical foreign policy. It got off to a good start with Kosovo and Sierra Leone but it’s been downhill ever since. Ethics have been abandoned in favour of economics and national interest: China, Palestine, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran etc.
Of all the things done by New Labour in the past ten years, surely giving unconditional support to America in it’s “war on terror” was the most wreckless. Have any “terrorists” been defeated by using military force? The Boers tried to defeat the ANC, whom they and Margaret Thatcher described as terrorists, by using military force but in the end they had to admit defeat and abandon Apartheid. The Jews haven’t been able to defeat the PLO using force. Even the British had to negotiate with IRA/Sinn Fein. You don’t hijack a plane and kill thousands, including yourself, unless it’s the last resort .
Things Can Only Get Better was the anthem of the New Labour victory in 1997. How wrong it was.
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
Monday, 30 April 2007
Let the Turks Vote for Christmas
Would the armed forces of any EU country threaten their democratically elected politicians? This is what has happened in Turkey, a would be EU member. The Turkish armed forces have threatened to take action if the democratically elected Grand National Assembly chose an Islamist as President.
It is their business if the democratically elected representatives of the Turkish people choose an Islamist as their President. It is not for the Turkish armed forces to interfere with democracy, even if the constitution, written under the military dictatorship rule in 1982, allows them to do so.
It is some one thousand years since the Turks left their homeland in Central Asia and marauded their way through north west Asia and eastern Europe. They massacred millions and destroyed numerous civilisations. It seems that the Turks have not changed a great deal in the past thousand years.
They show complete contempt for non-Turks. They continue to deny their genocide of the Armenians and Kurds. They continue to suppress the cultures of all non-Turks living in Turkey. They refuse to give the Kurds self determination. Their politicians are subservient to their military.
Turkey must not be allowed to become a member of the EU until the Turks discard their fascist tendencies and become civilised.
It is their business if the democratically elected representatives of the Turkish people choose an Islamist as their President. It is not for the Turkish armed forces to interfere with democracy, even if the constitution, written under the military dictatorship rule in 1982, allows them to do so.
It is some one thousand years since the Turks left their homeland in Central Asia and marauded their way through north west Asia and eastern Europe. They massacred millions and destroyed numerous civilisations. It seems that the Turks have not changed a great deal in the past thousand years.
They show complete contempt for non-Turks. They continue to deny their genocide of the Armenians and Kurds. They continue to suppress the cultures of all non-Turks living in Turkey. They refuse to give the Kurds self determination. Their politicians are subservient to their military.
Turkey must not be allowed to become a member of the EU until the Turks discard their fascist tendencies and become civilised.
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Darfur: The Forgotten Genocide
Over 1/4 million murdered. More than 2 million made refugees. Millions of girls and women raped. Thousands of villages burnt to the ground. It is now four years since the genocide in Darfur began.
It is ironic that the genocide in Darfur started at the same time as the attack on Iraq. After it was exposed that Iraq contained no WMD's and didn't pose a threat to any other countries, the apologists for the attack on Iraq excused it by saying that it was helping the people of Iraq. What about the people of Darfur? Why has the "international community" turned a blind eye to the genocide in Darfur?
The first reason was of course that the attack on Iraq wasn't done to help the people of Iraq. The second reason is oil. Many countries, especially China and Russia, import a great deal of oil from Sudan. They don't want to risk this by helping the people of Darfur.
And what of the organisation which is meant to prevent such genocide? During the last four years the UN has passed 16 resolutions on Darfur but it hasn't enforced a single one of them. Why? What makes Darfur so different from Kuwait, Congo, Lebanon, Kashmir, East Timor, Bosnia, Cyprus, Kosovo, Liberia, Ivory Coast etc? It is this kind of picking and choosing which has discredited the UN in the eyes of so many people in the world.
The UN may be the sum of it's members and it is true that it cannot do anything without the full support of the five permanent members. But when members, such as China and Russia, prevent it from doing its job merely out of self interest, why do other members and the Secretary General keep quiet? Why don't they expose the outrageous hypocrisy and double standards?
Instead of intervening themselves to protect the people of Darfur, the "international community" and the UN expect the African Union to do it. This would be the same corrupt, impotent African Union who's members include Mugabe's Zimbabwe and, er, Sudan.
It is ironic that the genocide in Darfur started at the same time as the attack on Iraq. After it was exposed that Iraq contained no WMD's and didn't pose a threat to any other countries, the apologists for the attack on Iraq excused it by saying that it was helping the people of Iraq. What about the people of Darfur? Why has the "international community" turned a blind eye to the genocide in Darfur?
The first reason was of course that the attack on Iraq wasn't done to help the people of Iraq. The second reason is oil. Many countries, especially China and Russia, import a great deal of oil from Sudan. They don't want to risk this by helping the people of Darfur.
And what of the organisation which is meant to prevent such genocide? During the last four years the UN has passed 16 resolutions on Darfur but it hasn't enforced a single one of them. Why? What makes Darfur so different from Kuwait, Congo, Lebanon, Kashmir, East Timor, Bosnia, Cyprus, Kosovo, Liberia, Ivory Coast etc? It is this kind of picking and choosing which has discredited the UN in the eyes of so many people in the world.
The UN may be the sum of it's members and it is true that it cannot do anything without the full support of the five permanent members. But when members, such as China and Russia, prevent it from doing its job merely out of self interest, why do other members and the Secretary General keep quiet? Why don't they expose the outrageous hypocrisy and double standards?
Instead of intervening themselves to protect the people of Darfur, the "international community" and the UN expect the African Union to do it. This would be the same corrupt, impotent African Union who's members include Mugabe's Zimbabwe and, er, Sudan.
Monday, 23 April 2007
Boris Yeltsin: The Tsar of Opportunists
What a blinkered view of history some people have. Boris Yeltsin was no hero. He was an opportunist.
He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for nearly 30 years. It was by virtue of being a member of the CPSU that he was able to climb the political ladder to become president of communist Russia. But, like so many communists in Eastern Europe, when he saw that communism's days were numbered, he suddenly switched sides and became a "democrat". When hard line communists staged a coup in 1991 Yeltsin, being at the right place at the right time, was able label himself a "democrat" and seize power for himself. But Yeltsin was no "democrat".
In 1993 the democratically elected Russian parliament refused to give Yeltsin dictatorial powers. Yeltsin replied by using tanks to shell the parliament. What a "democrat"! This wasn't the end of Yeltsin's brutality.
In 1994 Yeltsin ordered the military invasion of Chechnya. The Russian army laid waste to Chechnya, especially its capital Grozny. Over one hundred thousand civilians were murdered by the Russian army, millions were made refugees. This barbarism by the Russian army against the Muslim Chechnyans was to leave a long lasting legacy that is still being felt by the world.
Some of the most devastating crimes committed by Yeltsin were economic. He handed over Russia's nationalised industrial assets and vast natural wealth to a handful of people at a knockdown price. These handful of people became multi-billionaires overnight. But millions of ordinary Russians were plunged into economic misery. Millions lost their jobs as factories were closed. The country was hit by hyperinflation. The brave Russian people, whose stoic resistance had saved the world from Nazi rule, were forced to beg in the streets and rummage through bins for scraps of food. Many tried to drown their misery at the bottom of a bottle of vodka.
Under Yeltsin's rule the Russian mafia grew to eclipse the Italian mafia. The Russian mafia is now responsible for organised crime in every corner of the world. Most of the drug trafficking, prostitution, human trafficking and internet fraud committed in the world is being organised by the Russian mafia. The Russian mafia is so big now that it controls thousands of "legitimate" companies across the world, ranging from energy companies to football clubs (Chelski FC).
The Russia Yeltsin built was a shadow of the country that defeated Hitler. The gap between the rich and poor is worse than under the rule of the Tsars. Before Yeltsin took power the Russian health service was one of the best and most advanced in the world. Today most Russians don't have access to health care. Millions of Russians are addicted to vodka. Life expectancy is actually falling. This, coupled with the low birth rate, means that Russia's population is expected fall significantly over the coming decades.
But perhaps Yeltsin's worst crime, a crime that history will never forgive him for, is that he gave the world Vladimir Putin!
He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for nearly 30 years. It was by virtue of being a member of the CPSU that he was able to climb the political ladder to become president of communist Russia. But, like so many communists in Eastern Europe, when he saw that communism's days were numbered, he suddenly switched sides and became a "democrat". When hard line communists staged a coup in 1991 Yeltsin, being at the right place at the right time, was able label himself a "democrat" and seize power for himself. But Yeltsin was no "democrat".
In 1993 the democratically elected Russian parliament refused to give Yeltsin dictatorial powers. Yeltsin replied by using tanks to shell the parliament. What a "democrat"! This wasn't the end of Yeltsin's brutality.
In 1994 Yeltsin ordered the military invasion of Chechnya. The Russian army laid waste to Chechnya, especially its capital Grozny. Over one hundred thousand civilians were murdered by the Russian army, millions were made refugees. This barbarism by the Russian army against the Muslim Chechnyans was to leave a long lasting legacy that is still being felt by the world.
Some of the most devastating crimes committed by Yeltsin were economic. He handed over Russia's nationalised industrial assets and vast natural wealth to a handful of people at a knockdown price. These handful of people became multi-billionaires overnight. But millions of ordinary Russians were plunged into economic misery. Millions lost their jobs as factories were closed. The country was hit by hyperinflation. The brave Russian people, whose stoic resistance had saved the world from Nazi rule, were forced to beg in the streets and rummage through bins for scraps of food. Many tried to drown their misery at the bottom of a bottle of vodka.
Under Yeltsin's rule the Russian mafia grew to eclipse the Italian mafia. The Russian mafia is now responsible for organised crime in every corner of the world. Most of the drug trafficking, prostitution, human trafficking and internet fraud committed in the world is being organised by the Russian mafia. The Russian mafia is so big now that it controls thousands of "legitimate" companies across the world, ranging from energy companies to football clubs (Chelski FC).
The Russia Yeltsin built was a shadow of the country that defeated Hitler. The gap between the rich and poor is worse than under the rule of the Tsars. Before Yeltsin took power the Russian health service was one of the best and most advanced in the world. Today most Russians don't have access to health care. Millions of Russians are addicted to vodka. Life expectancy is actually falling. This, coupled with the low birth rate, means that Russia's population is expected fall significantly over the coming decades.
But perhaps Yeltsin's worst crime, a crime that history will never forgive him for, is that he gave the world Vladimir Putin!
Monday, 19 March 2007
Lies, Hypocrisy and Double Standards: The Rape of Iraq
It’s hard to believe it’s been four years. Four years since the biggest conspiracy of lies in our time was put into effect and the rape of Iraq started.
The lie conjured up by the neo-cons to excuse this illegal invasion of Iraq was that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed a grave threat to international security. History would prove that was a complete work of fiction. Iraq didn’t possess any WMDs and its armed forces were in a such a dire strait that they didn’t pose a threat to anyone.
Right from the beginning the redneck American soldiers have shown themselves to be evil sadistic bastards. They have murdered at least one hundred thousand Iraqis and tortured, maimed and raped millions. The outrages of Abu Ghraib were just the tip of the iceberg. They have stolen billions of dollars from Iraq’s oil and looted its antiquities. They have made Iraq such a hell that most Iraqis long for the security under Saddam’s rule.
The neo-cons may say that Iraq is now a democracy but, like all of the US-sponsored regimes in the middle east, it's only a democracy in name. The Iraqis may have voted in number on “free” elections in the last four years but a choice between one hundred self-serving collaborators is no choice. The quisling government, hiding in the Green Zone, have siphoned off billions of dollars of Iraq’s oil revenue into their personal Swiss bank accounts. They fly around the world in private jets calling themselves minister for this and ambassador for that. They have bought themselves mansions in Manhattan and London and holiday homes in the Caribbean. They send their children the best private schools and universities in the West. They do all this as ordinary Iraqis live in misery.
Each time an Iraqi leaves their home they don’t know if they are going to be murdered, raped, or kidnapped by the Americans or Iraqi collaborators. If they are lucky they will only be arrested, tortured and imprisoned indefinitely without trial. Even when they are at home they don’t know if the Americans will come knocking at the door, rape their wives and daughters, place a hood over their heads and take them away to an unknown fate.
Iraq has the second largest reserve of oil yet most Iraqis don’t have electricity and have to queue for days for petrol. Most Iraqi’s don’t have running water or sewerage. Before the American invasion Iraq was one the most developed countries in the middle east. Now it is akin to a sub-Saharan African country.
Even when it became clear that Iraq wasn’t a better place after the American invasion the neo-cons came up with more excuses.
They said life would be better when Saddam was caught. This didn’t happen.
They said life would be better after elections for an interim government. This didn’t happen.
They said life would be better after a new constitution was drawn up. This didn’t happen.
They said life would be better when the provisional government was replaced by a permanent government. This didn’t happen.
They said life would be better when Saddam was executed. This didn’t happen.
And now they say life will get better after they send in more troops. Let history record if this happens.
The reason for the attack on Iraq was not WMD, international security or Iraqi democracy. It wasn’t even oil. The reason for the attack on Iraq was bloody vengeance. The fate of Iraq was sealed on a sunny Tuesday in September 2001. Three thousand Americans had been killed therefore three million foreigners, preferably Muslims and Arabs, will have to be murdered as revenge. First on the target list was Afghanistan and this went well with the Taleban falling quickly. Next was Iraq. Although Saddam Hussein’s regime fell quickly the Americans underestimated the how much resistance there would be from the Iraqi people. Had this not happened America would surely have attacked the other countries in the middle east that weren’t subservient to it: Iran, Syria, Sudan and Somalia. And then they would have had control over every Muslim country in the world, from Morocco to Malaysia.
What has happened to the criminals responsible for the rape of Iraq? Despite their lies and motives being exposed Bush, Bliar and Howard are still in power. They, nor anybody else, will ever be brought to justice for the war crimes committed in Iraq in the last four years.
And what of Iraq? The recent “surge” by America will push Iraq further into the abyss. The USA cannot win in Iraq because it has no support amongst the Iraqi people. Sometime in the future, possibly after Bush has gone, America will realise this and make a tactical withdrawal as it did in Vietnam. Iraq will descent into full scale civil war (if it hasn’t already) in which its neighbours, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, will be heavily involved. After a period of conflict Iraq will come under the rule of a pro-American dictator. And Iraq’s oil and other assets will be owned by American companies. But, wait a minute...isn’t this what America wants? A weak, brutalised, subservient Iraq which is no threat to the Jews and whose oil is under American control.
Perhaps this is what the neo-cons had planned all along. Is America really “winning” in Iraq without anyone knowing it?
The lie conjured up by the neo-cons to excuse this illegal invasion of Iraq was that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed a grave threat to international security. History would prove that was a complete work of fiction. Iraq didn’t possess any WMDs and its armed forces were in a such a dire strait that they didn’t pose a threat to anyone.
The most astonishing thing about this lie was the hypocrisy of the United States. The USA possesses enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over and it is the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons in aggression. It possesses more chemical and biological weapons than the rest of the world combined and it has routinely used these against civilians in conflicts from Vietnam to Iraq. It consistently refuses to sign international treaties that would limit the use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. As well as using WMDs itself the USA is quite happy to sell them to murderous dictators around the world. The chemical weapons used by Saddam Hussein against Iranian and Kurdish civilians were sold to him by the USA.
Rumsfeld sells some WMDs to Iraq
Rumsfeld sells some WMDs to IraqWhen the lies about WMDs were exposed the neo-cons came up with even more lies: they were there to help the people of Iraq and bring democracy. History has once again shown the ridiculousness of these lies.
An American soldier betrays America's real intentions in Iraq
An American soldier betrays America's real intentions in IraqRight from the beginning the redneck American soldiers have shown themselves to be evil sadistic bastards. They have murdered at least one hundred thousand Iraqis and tortured, maimed and raped millions. The outrages of Abu Ghraib were just the tip of the iceberg. They have stolen billions of dollars from Iraq’s oil and looted its antiquities. They have made Iraq such a hell that most Iraqis long for the security under Saddam’s rule.
The neo-cons may say that Iraq is now a democracy but, like all of the US-sponsored regimes in the middle east, it's only a democracy in name. The Iraqis may have voted in number on “free” elections in the last four years but a choice between one hundred self-serving collaborators is no choice. The quisling government, hiding in the Green Zone, have siphoned off billions of dollars of Iraq’s oil revenue into their personal Swiss bank accounts. They fly around the world in private jets calling themselves minister for this and ambassador for that. They have bought themselves mansions in Manhattan and London and holiday homes in the Caribbean. They send their children the best private schools and universities in the West. They do all this as ordinary Iraqis live in misery.
Each time an Iraqi leaves their home they don’t know if they are going to be murdered, raped, or kidnapped by the Americans or Iraqi collaborators. If they are lucky they will only be arrested, tortured and imprisoned indefinitely without trial. Even when they are at home they don’t know if the Americans will come knocking at the door, rape their wives and daughters, place a hood over their heads and take them away to an unknown fate.
Iraq has the second largest reserve of oil yet most Iraqis don’t have electricity and have to queue for days for petrol. Most Iraqi’s don’t have running water or sewerage. Before the American invasion Iraq was one the most developed countries in the middle east. Now it is akin to a sub-Saharan African country.
Even when it became clear that Iraq wasn’t a better place after the American invasion the neo-cons came up with more excuses.
They said life would be better when Saddam was caught. This didn’t happen.
They said life would be better after elections for an interim government. This didn’t happen.
They said life would be better after a new constitution was drawn up. This didn’t happen.
They said life would be better when the provisional government was replaced by a permanent government. This didn’t happen.
They said life would be better when Saddam was executed. This didn’t happen.
And now they say life will get better after they send in more troops. Let history record if this happens.
The reason for the attack on Iraq was not WMD, international security or Iraqi democracy. It wasn’t even oil. The reason for the attack on Iraq was bloody vengeance. The fate of Iraq was sealed on a sunny Tuesday in September 2001. Three thousand Americans had been killed therefore three million foreigners, preferably Muslims and Arabs, will have to be murdered as revenge. First on the target list was Afghanistan and this went well with the Taleban falling quickly. Next was Iraq. Although Saddam Hussein’s regime fell quickly the Americans underestimated the how much resistance there would be from the Iraqi people. Had this not happened America would surely have attacked the other countries in the middle east that weren’t subservient to it: Iran, Syria, Sudan and Somalia. And then they would have had control over every Muslim country in the world, from Morocco to Malaysia.
What has happened to the criminals responsible for the rape of Iraq? Despite their lies and motives being exposed Bush, Bliar and Howard are still in power. They, nor anybody else, will ever be brought to justice for the war crimes committed in Iraq in the last four years.
And what of Iraq? The recent “surge” by America will push Iraq further into the abyss. The USA cannot win in Iraq because it has no support amongst the Iraqi people. Sometime in the future, possibly after Bush has gone, America will realise this and make a tactical withdrawal as it did in Vietnam. Iraq will descent into full scale civil war (if it hasn’t already) in which its neighbours, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, will be heavily involved. After a period of conflict Iraq will come under the rule of a pro-American dictator. And Iraq’s oil and other assets will be owned by American companies. But, wait a minute...isn’t this what America wants? A weak, brutalised, subservient Iraq which is no threat to the Jews and whose oil is under American control.
Perhaps this is what the neo-cons had planned all along. Is America really “winning” in Iraq without anyone knowing it?
Tuesday, 13 March 2007
How to Commit Murder and Get Away With It...
...Join the British Army.
This is what Colonel Jorge Mendonca, Major Michael Peebles, Warrant Officer Mark Davies, Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, Sergeant Kelvin Stacey and Private Darren Fallon did.
They, Lieutenant Craig Rogers (who was never tried) and numerous other British soldiers whose identity is being kept secret by the British Army, systematically abused and tortured several innocent Iraqi civilians as vengeance after a British Army officer was killed. Unfortunately for the soldiers one of their victims, Baha Mousa, had the discourtesy to die as a result of their brutality.
They weren't the first of the foreign occupiers to commit war crimes in Iraq. But they were one of the few whose crimes have been discovered by the outside world. And what happened next?
Were they tried by the Iraqi courts because the crimes were committed in Iraq against Iraqis? No.
Were they tried by the International Courts of Justice in Hague because these were war crimes? No.
They were tried in Britain by a British court consisting of officers from the British Army. And surprise, surprise they were all acquitted.
The only British soldier who will face any punishment for these heinous war crimes is Corporal Donald Payne. But even he is only facing punishment for "inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians".
No British soldier will be brought to justice for the murder and torture that was committed by the British Army in Basra in September 2003.
One wonders if the roles had been reversed, and that it was British civilians who had been tortured and murdered by Iraqi soldiers, whether British authorities would be happy if the only outcome was that one single individual was punished for "inhumanely treating British civilians"?
This is what Colonel Jorge Mendonca, Major Michael Peebles, Warrant Officer Mark Davies, Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, Sergeant Kelvin Stacey and Private Darren Fallon did.
They, Lieutenant Craig Rogers (who was never tried) and numerous other British soldiers whose identity is being kept secret by the British Army, systematically abused and tortured several innocent Iraqi civilians as vengeance after a British Army officer was killed. Unfortunately for the soldiers one of their victims, Baha Mousa, had the discourtesy to die as a result of their brutality.
They weren't the first of the foreign occupiers to commit war crimes in Iraq. But they were one of the few whose crimes have been discovered by the outside world. And what happened next?
Were they tried by the Iraqi courts because the crimes were committed in Iraq against Iraqis? No.
Were they tried by the International Courts of Justice in Hague because these were war crimes? No.
They were tried in Britain by a British court consisting of officers from the British Army. And surprise, surprise they were all acquitted.
The only British soldier who will face any punishment for these heinous war crimes is Corporal Donald Payne. But even he is only facing punishment for "inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians".
No British soldier will be brought to justice for the murder and torture that was committed by the British Army in Basra in September 2003.
One wonders if the roles had been reversed, and that it was British civilians who had been tortured and murdered by Iraqi soldiers, whether British authorities would be happy if the only outcome was that one single individual was punished for "inhumanely treating British civilians"?
Wednesday, 21 February 2007
A Matter of Priorities
God have mercy on anyone coming between an Englishman and his Mondeo.
The British Prime Minister invents a pack of lies to excuse the invasion of a country which results in the murder of over one hundred thousand people and nothing happens.
The NHS and schools are being privatised through the back door and nothing happens.
The country’s future is being mortgaged with corporate loan sharks through PFI /PPP deals and nothing happens.
Greedy developers have been allowed to hijack the property market to such a great extent that millions of people cannot get on the property ladder without handouts from their family, friends or the government and nothing happens.
Yet, when the government proposes introducing road charges over 1.7 million people sign a petition against it. The British certainly know what is important in life.
Road charging is wrong. It is not wrong because “I’ve paid my taxes through fuel duty so I should be able to whatever I want with my car”. It is wrong because it is yet another regressive tax that have become very popular with governments in recent years.
It may seem fair that people pay based on usage but any system which ignores the ability of the user to pay is inherently unfair. The poll tax did this - everyone paid the same amount irrespective of whether they were a fat cat director of a FTSE company or a pensioner living on a miserly state pension. This was the fatal flaw which eventually led to the demise of the poll tax.
The congestion charge in central London has clearly shown the regressive nature of a road charging system which ignores the varied personal financial circumstances of drivers. The number of vehicles in central London has reduced by 30% and yet paradoxically congestion has actually increased. Why?
The 30% of cars that have been driven out of central London belong the poorest in society who cannot afford to pay £8 a day for the privilege of driving to work in order to make a living for themselves and their families. This, initially, resulted in a reduction in congestion. This in turn caused the rich, who can easily afford the congestion charge, to increase the use of their vehicles in central London. Previously they would have left their Mercs, BMWs and Jaguars at home and used the public transport to get to work. But now with all the riffraff off the streets they could get to work in the comfort of their Chelsea tractors. Hence the increase in congestion.
Cars aren’t a luxury - they are a necessity. Especially so since public transport, controlled as it is by the profiteering cartel of Arriva, First, National Express and Stage Coach, is abysmal. Road congestion is a real problem but the solution isn’t to price the poorest in society off the streets. The solution is to provide a convenient, comfortable, reliable and affordable alternative. This means bringing public transport back into public ownership. And it also means investing more money in public transport. Money raised by increase direct, income based taxes.
The British Prime Minister invents a pack of lies to excuse the invasion of a country which results in the murder of over one hundred thousand people and nothing happens.
The NHS and schools are being privatised through the back door and nothing happens.
The country’s future is being mortgaged with corporate loan sharks through PFI /PPP deals and nothing happens.
Greedy developers have been allowed to hijack the property market to such a great extent that millions of people cannot get on the property ladder without handouts from their family, friends or the government and nothing happens.
Yet, when the government proposes introducing road charges over 1.7 million people sign a petition against it. The British certainly know what is important in life.
Road charging is wrong. It is not wrong because “I’ve paid my taxes through fuel duty so I should be able to whatever I want with my car”. It is wrong because it is yet another regressive tax that have become very popular with governments in recent years.
It may seem fair that people pay based on usage but any system which ignores the ability of the user to pay is inherently unfair. The poll tax did this - everyone paid the same amount irrespective of whether they were a fat cat director of a FTSE company or a pensioner living on a miserly state pension. This was the fatal flaw which eventually led to the demise of the poll tax.
The congestion charge in central London has clearly shown the regressive nature of a road charging system which ignores the varied personal financial circumstances of drivers. The number of vehicles in central London has reduced by 30% and yet paradoxically congestion has actually increased. Why?
The 30% of cars that have been driven out of central London belong the poorest in society who cannot afford to pay £8 a day for the privilege of driving to work in order to make a living for themselves and their families. This, initially, resulted in a reduction in congestion. This in turn caused the rich, who can easily afford the congestion charge, to increase the use of their vehicles in central London. Previously they would have left their Mercs, BMWs and Jaguars at home and used the public transport to get to work. But now with all the riffraff off the streets they could get to work in the comfort of their Chelsea tractors. Hence the increase in congestion.
Cars aren’t a luxury - they are a necessity. Especially so since public transport, controlled as it is by the profiteering cartel of Arriva, First, National Express and Stage Coach, is abysmal. Road congestion is a real problem but the solution isn’t to price the poorest in society off the streets. The solution is to provide a convenient, comfortable, reliable and affordable alternative. This means bringing public transport back into public ownership. And it also means investing more money in public transport. Money raised by increase direct, income based taxes.
Monday, 22 January 2007
Another Day, Another Inquiry
In the UK, whenever something goes wrong or crimes are committed, we do not hold those responsible accountable or bring them to justice. Instead we hold inquiries, produce reports and come up with fancy phrases such as “institutional racism” or “fit for purpose”.
This is what happened in the Stephen Lawrence case and this is what has happened n one particular case where the RUC aided and abetted in murders committed by Protestant terrorists.
RUC officers not only gave protection to the murderers but also gave them thousands of pounds of taxpayers money. All of this happened with the knowledge of senior officers including the chief constable. Most of the senior officers involved refused to co-operate with the inquiry.
Will the RUC officers responsible be brought to justice? No. Will the then chief constable lose his current government job or his knighthood? No. Instead they will all grow old on a fat pension.
The RUC may now have a different name, different symbol and different governing/regulatory bodies. It may even have a few more Catholic officers. It will however always be Protestant paramilitary organisation. The only just way forward is to disband it and start from scratch. If it’s good enough for the Iraqis it’s good enough for ALL the people of Northern Ireland.
This is what happened in the Stephen Lawrence case and this is what has happened n one particular case where the RUC aided and abetted in murders committed by Protestant terrorists.
RUC officers not only gave protection to the murderers but also gave them thousands of pounds of taxpayers money. All of this happened with the knowledge of senior officers including the chief constable. Most of the senior officers involved refused to co-operate with the inquiry.
Will the RUC officers responsible be brought to justice? No. Will the then chief constable lose his current government job or his knighthood? No. Instead they will all grow old on a fat pension.
The RUC may now have a different name, different symbol and different governing/regulatory bodies. It may even have a few more Catholic officers. It will however always be Protestant paramilitary organisation. The only just way forward is to disband it and start from scratch. If it’s good enough for the Iraqis it’s good enough for ALL the people of Northern Ireland.
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