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shamnesty gig review, Edinburgh

sin nick | 16.03.2006 00:41 | Analysis | Anti-militarism | Repression

This is 30% news, 70% vitriol, can't decide whether to post.

I went to the Amnesty gig in Edinburgh tonight, well yesterday evening. Moazzam Begg and Phillipe Sands were the speakers. Celebrity-idiot Ruth Wishart was due to be the chair but couldn't make it so they invited Lord Coulsfield aka John Taylor Cameron to chair it instead.

An interesting and appropriate choice of chair for Amnesty, given that he was one of the 'Lockerbie judges' who stitched up Libya for the Lockerbie bombing on FBI orders. I would've loved to ask him what the other speakers had just said, for his head was rolling and his eyes were shut whenever he wasn't himself mumbling nonsense to himself. I bet he missed half of what was said,I doubt that matters with his judgements though. I could rubbish the old shit all night but I don't feel the need. Needless to say he was applauded and thanked simply for pretending to be a liberal. The lack of a lightning bolt proved to me once and for all Jehovah is as mythical as tinkerbell.

I don't know what possessed Moazzam Begg to appear on the same platform as Sands and Cameron. I'd like to think it was simple naiviety or more informed tactics rather than anything more sinister. Begg himself was the star attraction and would have drawn the same audience on his own, but he spoke the least. Even I couldn't fault anything he said, though I could fault him for the things he never said, for his passive acceptance of what the other two were saying. If you get the chance you should go along to see him but don't clap anyone sitting next to him just for sitting next to him, keep your brain running and your applause selective.

Phillipe Sands is a self-promoting 'Cruise-missile leftist ', a rich London lawyer who is happy to cash in on his contacts with Cherie Blair to sell books criticising the Iraq war - while not actually taking any legal or direct action to stop it. He doesn't even talk the talk. He is the guy who held back information useful to the peace-movement until he was able to profit from it. Sitting next to Begg he had the affrontery to defend the Afghanistan invasion 'as Afghanistan had attacked america' - noone thought to question this blatant lie, and so he went on to claim without supporting evidence that the US was a decent law-abiding country until the PNAC mob formed under Reagans administration. Nobody thought to question his assertion that any country has the right to attack any other country if it possesses WMD. He was of course referring explicitly to Iran rather than the UK or the US which actually do possess WMD, and he said without justification that Iran posed a greater threat than Iraq. The idiot amnesty audience all applauded as I'm sure even Blair would've, obviously impressed with his constant name-dropping and anectdotes of meetings he'd had in the Whitehouse. And constantly mentioning his book, which he'd be signing later.

This is the Propaganda Model brought to life, limiting the arguments to be acceptable to the establishment. Admitting the Iraq invasion was wrong but a momentary and reversable lapse of judgement by a few bad-apples in the current US administration. Justifying at length the Afghan invasion and any future invasion of Iran erroneously, hypocritically but without criticism, covering his war-mongering attitude by platitudes about Iraq.

The crowd numbered less than 500, but the church was full and more folk might've wanted to be there. Mainly white but less so than your average Edinburgh gig. A handful of anarcho-pacifists, I'm guessing just a bit more STW/swp/SSP if you combine them (as I do), loads and loads of Amnesty, even more God Squad, a smattering of Guardian wannabe fakirs. I'm maybe judging them all too harshly by the very few of them who were given a chance to speak before the decripit Lord Coulsfield had had to head home for his 9 o'clock bedtime. I'll try and summarise a few of the questions but my contempt may have tinged my memory.

I think everyone groaned internally when one girl asked why Castro agreed to run Guantanamo, although she obviously didn't feel stupid when it was explained to her that he didn't as she had a follow on question of similar insight ' But maybe there could be more US prisons around the world and we wouldn't know about it?'
I would suggest to that girl, and to everyone, if you are going along to a meeting about anything and you haven't bothered to read up on the subject in advance, you should not feel free to dominate a limited question time with basic questions. Yes, just maybe there are more than 500 illegal US detainees worldwide.

There was a yank who suggested taking Bush to the ICC - with the judge refusing to comment, Begg concurring and the lawyer using it to mention another Whitehouse anecdote. Why anyone would expect real justice from the ICC or even support from a FBI controlled judge is beyond me, but some people are conditioned to believe anything inside religious buildings I guess.

There was a minister who with other god-squad and some Green MSPs had written demanding Blair inspect the CIA torture flights two years ago demanding to know what the group thought of the fact that he hadn't got a reply. 'QUELLE FUCKING SURPRISE you lazy, war funding, pseudo-spiritual statist faker' I wanted to shout out but I just headbutted the pew in front of me instead. If the guy had done anything else in the past two years I'm sure he would've mentioned it, but no, he waiting for that letter from Tony Blairs office saying, 'You know, you are right, I'm off to hand myself in to the ICC'. I mean, airports are reasonablly safe if you stay away from the runways and anything loud. It doesn't take a genius to climb a fence and run 100 metres. And you can close an airport down without even going into it. Maybe Blair will eventually be put under house arrest in his senility, like Pinochet, but I doubt it. Anyway, only dealing with them when they are within office will act as a deterence to other leaders lying their way to war.

Anyway, a few key points I took from what Begg said:

He doesn't regard his treatment as torture or rather even if it legally counts as torture he doesn't resent it as much as he resents the initial kidnap and subsequent illegal detention without any real contact with his family. In general though I got the impression he seems to think of this as his chance to help end this senseless 'clash of civilisations/ long war' whatever you want to call it.

He mentioned that when he was kidnapped that he wasn't searched and so was able to phone friends to care for his wife and kids, and to phone his father. This isn't just odd and sentimental, it proves to my satisfaction that his US kidnappers knew he wasn't a terrorist - any real terrorist subject would of course be searched for phones and weapons. He didn't mention this point himself though although I assume he realises it - this is important to consider so I won't comment on it further.

He is stressing over and over reconciliation. Judging from his company and understated complaint, reconciliation at any cost, I'm sure he must've taken umbrage at the London lawyer trying to justify the Afghanistan occupation but he kept quiet. I thought about asking him if he felt any empathy for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi simply to embarrass Lord Coulsfield, the Quisling who stitched him up, but out of respect for Beggs quietude I bit my tongue. He after all has been on the sharp end and I have not.

He mentioned making friends with many US guards, but also that one of the nicest went on to kill an Afghani, one of two murders he'd witnessed that were prosecuted and yet only slightly punished. He said the US grunts were just ordinary people undergoing a dehumanising process. My impression is that although Gitmo was designed to dehumanise the inmates it is telling that Begg himself is so humane while the process is dehumanising the Americans themselves, a cancer in the heart of the 'american dream' myth. Begg himself stuck to the facts.

In general, he was the least extremist person I have ever heard speak, given his story. Although he seems to forgive his own treatment I for one do not think he has the right to forgive all this states war-crimes since his detention and I urge him never to join any 'truth and reconciliation' committee until we have punished the war-mongers on behalf of the innocents already killed by our incompetence and our Quislings complicity. If only to prevent the next corporate-genocide.

I'm sorry if I've offended Mr Begg or any of the anarcho-pacifists with my negativity and doubt, I apologise, but the rest of you can go to hell unless you can beat me in argument - especially you, Auntie Iris.

sin nick

Additions

sand devil

19.03.2006 20:09

-Dial 'M' for... - But I guess that perhaps educating attendees at the entrance would be a good idea. Hell, I'd even help you.

I was too ashamed, I'm not really what you'd call an educator. If you'd beeen sitting next to me and winding me up then I may just have been angry enough but I doubt it.

-Ben -so draw your own conclusions ;-p
- Anyway, while I am at it,

I suspect you would be underpaid even if you were well-paid, I mean that nicely, I was only joshing before.


-Twilight - Hey, Amnesty UK was chaired by one of Blair's New Reich goons. Man, I am soooooo surprised. What the hell is wrong with you people. How dare you turn a matter of life and death for billions of people on this planet into a game of 'trainspotting'. Oh look, there's someone famous, and I was at his meeting pretending to save the planet by rubbing shoulders with another famous name I can enter in my big book of 'trainspotting'.

Yes, I guess I attended the meeting simply for my first chance to listen to a guantanamo detainee directly, if that is what you mean.

-Twilight - If you are political because you want the world to be a better place, for god's sake stop this game of 'trainspotting'.

I'm apolitical but I would go and see a victim of Abu Ghraib if they were speaking locally, just to check them off my 'trainspotting' check-list. Do you drink a lot of coffee by any chance ?

-Twilight - Our knowledge of the nuclear weapons held by Blair, Bush and co basically stops in the 50's.
I've heard they are thinking of upgrading to some American system called 'Polaris; but don't say I told you so.

-Twilight - I have no hope, but then I would ONLY allow real evidence to give me hope. Why do you have hope?

I have hope because I can prove to my own satisfaction that I have free will, which means anything is possible, or quite a lot at least. And if I have free will then there's a good chance at least a few other people still do, there is plenty evidence for that. Anyway if you have evidence for hope then it simply becomes expectation.

-Twilight - "That's floor 99 and hey, I'm still doing fine... damn, floor 61 and I'm still great... wheee floor 9 and I've never felt more alive... SPLATT!!!!!!"

I'm assuming you mean that ironically but I think it shows you are scared of your own mortality. You should work on that - when we left our mothers womb we all started falling from floor 99 and there is no alternative to SPLAT!!!!!!. You are going to die and it will be soon enough but if it's any comfort I'm likely to go first and I would have went long ago if I thought the splat was the end of it.


-M - see: reason boiling down to vitriol and personal slights

I knew an old woman who complained that one of her lovers had threatened for years to kill himself ' but the bastard never did'. I could see her point, but hearing her tell the story I could sympathise with his death wish.

sin nick


Comments

Hide the following 14 comments

Hmmm!

16.03.2006 09:54

"[Lord Coulsfield] was one of the 'Lockerbie judges' who stitched up Libya for the Lockerbie bombing on FBI orders."

I thought it was generally known amongst those who view Libya as innocent, that Libya quite willingly offered up sacrificial lambs in return for international "re-integration"? Hardly the World's best kept secret.

Your piece sounds like a childish tantrum watered down by embittered whining. Amnesty doesn't promote itself as a direct action organisation. They are a fairly mainstream, liberal middle-class affair.

Sounds to me like you are outraged that they weren't cracking open cases of AK-47s and proclaiming "To the streets!". Which makes as much sense as turning up to you local Fly Fishing Club and daming them for being so apathetic- they aren't even interested in your hobbyhorse.

A wee tip: dogma will ONLY ever leave you bitter, because heterogeneity will always outnumber you.

Thanks for telling us what to think and when to applaud, Uncle Joe.


M= Big Brother


so we agree ?

16.03.2006 12:42

- I thought it was generally known amongst those who view Libya as innocent, that Libya quite willingly offered up sacrificial lambs in return for international "re-integration"? Hardly the World's best kept secret.

Indeed true, and an important point, but you wouldn't have learned that from shamnesty, try doing a search for criticism of the Lockerbie trial from them. Gadaffi is indeed a bastard - is it okay to crack out the AK-47's when criticising him ? Shayler thought not. And before you start typing furiuously, I don't like Shayler either, I was just pointing out that other flawed state-terrorism attempt.

- Your piece sounds like a childish tantrum watered down by embittered whining.

It is ! I thought I made that clear myself. Still, I notice you don't criticise any of the facts or implications so I'll take your post as support however you intended it.

-Amnesty doesn't promote itself as a direct action organisation. They are a fairly mainstream, liberal middle-class affair.

...who not only failed to criticise the Lockerbie trial, they now applaud the judges. And since they are all lawyers I criticise their lack of legal action before their lack of direct action regarding Iraq, though all types of inaction are equally damning. Again we agree.

- Sounds to me like you are outraged that they weren't cracking open cases of AK-47s and proclaiming "To the streets!".

Well to someone who calls themselves Big Brother it probably would. If you re-read what I wrote I wasn't able to criticise Begg, who certainly embodies pacifism, just the hypocites riding on his coat-tails pretend to. Actually, in retrospect I would like to criticise Begg mildly. He made a slight attempt to justify US intervention in Bosnia, which amazed me given his own experience. Since that is a voluntary and unnecessary admission I hope you won't make light of it.

-Which makes as much sense as turning up to you local Fly Fishing Club and daming them for being so apathetic- they aren't even interested in your hobbyhorse.

If you are assuming the Lockerbie sham trial is my hobby-horse, it isn't, I just see the irony in a supposed HR organisation applauding proven FBI judges. I did think politically motivated show trials were Amnestys forte but I was obviously wrong, I can't find any critique from Amnesty of that stitch up. In fact even their criticism of Gitmo is markedly muted. So yes, yet again you are right, Amnesty have much interest in stopping our own governments oppression as my local Fly Fishing Club - although to be honest I've met my local fly-fishing club and they are more politically astute than Amnesty seem to be. None of the fly-fishers have ever applauded our FBI judges.

- A wee tip: dogma will ONLY ever leave you bitter, because heterogeneity will always outnumber you.

Yes, simply adding the oppressors to the oppressed does numerically win the day- but arguing on the side of unpopular truth is its own reward and far from dogmatic. I think it's better to be bitter when you are shafted by your social-superiors, I think that anger is less damaging than applauding war mongers - and buying their books for gods sake.

-Thanks for telling us what to think and when to applaud, Uncle Joe.

You don't have to be a Stalinist to be ashamed to applaud establishment puppets. I'm not a socialist, just a Scot with more than 7 seconds memory.

Personally I think anyone who posts as 'Big Brother' on Indymedia should check out their ASTC index first, you have too much time on your hands.
 http://www.lovehoney.co.uk/shootout/index.cfm

sin nick


amnesty = anarcho-pacifists?!?

16.03.2006 13:19

Eh laddie

What gubbins ye be goin 'bout? Do you think anything left of Malcolm Rifkind are anarchos. Quick hide yer babies, the amnesty crew have it the streets...

FTP


Sin Nick (geddit!)

16.03.2006 15:21

Khaddaffi is a turd in all respects. He started off a dictator now hes a US puppet. My point is I think the only people that got "stiched up" was what'shisface in the Bar-L and the American public.

I'm not going to counter your post point by point, because it's a bloody pointless observation in the first place. You've haardly been had under the Sale of Goods and Services Act. And yeah, I do agree with a fair bit of it.

But, you wasted your time going to an Amnesty gig expecting anything other than middle-class liberals complaining... and then come here and whine to us about it. You obviously lack some sort of constructive outlet for your nervous energy.

But WTFDIK, I'm just a fellow Scot that remembers Thatcher using us guinea pigs for every and any fucked policy. And being lied to about the Scots economy in the first referendum.

You have the potential to be a very funny writer. Shame you haven't found the right subject matter.
Why not go knock fuck out the SSP verbally? They're a bigger bunch of hypocritical tossers.

;-)

P.S. The Big Brother moniker was bestowed on me by someone else... And being a good drone, I always oblige.

M= Big Brother


Another whistleblower punished - demockracy in action

16.03.2006 15:48

I'm ashamed to have to point out to a wider audience that FTP is short for 'Fuck The Pope' in Scotland - the rallying cry of the sectarian bigiots who still run this place - not a nice pseuodnymn since the blame lies with the catholic in 10 Downing Street rather than the bloke in the dress in the Vatican. Yes, Amnesty does have the support of lots of anarcho-pacifists, unfortunately. You can tell them apart from the rest of the crowd easily, they are the folk who actually get themselves arrrested rather than just writing letters. I don't support them but I can't criticise them.

In a similar way I don't support the SNP but I do appreciate that they are the only folk supporting the aberdonian whistle-blower in the McKie case which further exposes Lord Coulsfields complicity over Lockerbie.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4813252.stm

"Does the deputy first minister share my concern that Mr Dempster was informed yesterday - and I have a copy of the letter here - that he is to face disciplinary proceedings at the specific request of the director of the Scottish Criminal Records Office - an organisation we are told is beyond reproach and has nothing to hide?"

The Scottish judicial system is a sham. No defence based on international law is allowed. Dr Jim Swires - one of the Scottish victims of the Lockerbie atrocity- was once a proponent of Scottish judges being prominent in the prosecution of the bombers but I take it from recent statements he is recanting that position. As Mandela said of the case "no one nation should be complainant, prosecutor and judge". Especially such flawed and compromised individuals as the amnesty/fbi hero Lord Coulsfield.

sin nick


Khaddaffi is a turd in all respects

16.03.2006 16:19

-Khaddaffi is a turd in all respects. He started off a dictator now hes a US puppet.

Like Blair in reverse. The only thing I admire about the Libyan is the fact when he sold out his citizens he kept his shoe-soles directed towards Blair. No Arab could have missed the significance of that insult.

-My point is I think the only people that got "stiched up" was what'shisface in the Bar-L and the American public.

And the Lockerbie innocents too don't forget. I think that is enough folk stiched-up to justify complaining about it. I think even a single individual stitched up by our own government is as worthy of support than any number of foriegn victims, that may be overly parochial perhaps but I do think we should act locally, think globally, it's a worthwhile motto, and one that seems remote to Amnesty who always criticise 'them' before us.

-I'm not going to counter your post point by point, because it's a bloody pointless observation in the first place. You've haardly been had under the Sale of Goods and Services Act. And yeah, I do agree with a fair bit of it.
-But, you wasted your time going to an Amnesty gig expecting anything other than middle-class liberals complaining... and then come here and whine to us about it. You obviously lack some sort of constructive outlet for your nervous energy.

Very true. I could have just disrupted the meeting at the time but I'm sure you wouldn't applaud that either, certainly no one present would have understood why if I had.

-But WTFDIK, I'm just a fellow Scot that remembers Thatcher using us guinea pigs for every and any fucked policy.
And being lied to about the Scots economy in the first referendum. Can you really claim you wouldn't have removed her from office by force if you could have ? What a bitch. I used to vote labour as the lesser of two evils, stayed up late cheering the election results. Mia culpa.
All the oil dried up in 1978 didn't it ? I guess we can judge when the oil really has run out, the day Scotland is finally set free. I don't know what your acronym means though I can guess the first three letters.

-You have the potential to be a very funny writer. Shame you haven't found the right subject matter.
-Why not go knock fuck out the SSP verbally? They're a bigger bunch of hypocritical tossers.

Cos they are bigger than me and they know where I live ! Amnesty for all their faults are unlikely to beat me up. Once the SSP are down, I'll abuse them too ;-) Actually, since you have prompted me I can't resist - Carolyn Leckie, you are just Blair without the competence, Stalin without the dress sense. Poor old Tommy, hoisted by his own petard. Smirk. Still, being serious folks, the scottish legal system is as shitty as any third world country, at least as shitty as Englands though I have less evidence of that.

sin nick


Sin Nick

16.03.2006 22:02

I get the impression that it's only the US families that bought into the Libya lie? But, yeah, the poor people that got killed, maimed, bereaved or just lost a shed really should expect a proper investigation & trial.

You never know, Bush plc may do an about turn for more ammo to nuke Iran.

"Very true. I could have just disrupted the meeting at the time but I'm sure you wouldn't applaud that either, certainly no one present would have understood why if I had."

Well they aren't exactly RioTintoZinc. But I guess that perhaps educating attendees at the entrance would be a good idea. Hell, I'd even help you.

Dial 'M' for...


A gold star to Corporate Watch.

16.03.2006 22:14

By the way it isn't my fault my post got awarded a little box around it. It only serves to offend me that none of my others ever did, this one really seemed dubious even to me, even when I was posting actions rather than embittered opinion I never got boxed, I never even questioned why only certain posts do. It's seemingly random. One of my previous posts was added to someone elses as an addition as if it was in some way related to them, I'm sure they were more offended than me so I didn't complain at the time. I guess it's all valid info when I am sullen enough to keep my own opinions to my self and just state the facts rather than mouthing off.

This is the only visible post that deserves a box or any such recognition in my neutral opinion:

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/03/335694.html

Just a rewrite of existing data, but a wonderful rewrite that got much more attention nationally than it did here, though I appreciate they posted it here before they emailled the newspapers.

saint nick


Saint nick

17.03.2006 00:53

Hi, I am responsible for drawing the box around your article (and incidentally, I also promoted the Corporate Watch article). You are right that it is very random what gets promoted and what doesn't, it really depends on who happen to be doing admin at any given time. The promoted newswire is a new initiative and there aren't really any guidelines yet about what should get promoted - we are all just giving it ago and seeing what kinds of complaint and comments emerge.

Personally I think of the promoted wire as the opposite to the hidden wire and so I promote what I consider to be in-keeping with the spirit of indymedia - which to me is grassroots first hand reports of people doing things. Your post was clearly a first hand report containing critical analysis (or a long moaning rant) and I think we should see more people reporting back from events as well as simply announcing them so I promoted it.

Also, I used to work for Amnesty so I had other motives ;-)

And, I've got lots of friends that research and write reports for Corporate Watch so draw your own conclusions ;-p

Anyway, while I am at it, if you feel a post should be promoted (or hidden), or you feel that a series of posts on a specific issue could be drawn together and highlighted as a feature in the centre column, then email imc-uk-features (see contacts page). That's how it works. No editors, just you, me and everyone else who want's indymedia to work.

ben


Sleepwalking to an eternal sleep- I don't suppose many will notice a difference

17.03.2006 06:13

Amnesty published and promoted the document, produced by an ultra-right-wing zionist NY PR-agency, that contained the foul lies about Iraqis throwing Kuwait newborns out of incubators, and shipping the stolen equipment to Iraq.

IS THIS SIMPLE CLEAR FACT NOT SIMPLE OR CLEAR ENOUGH FOR YOU???

Amnesty blamed the victims of Fallujah for being responsible for the genocide visited upon that city by Blair and Bush.

IS THIS SIMPLE CLEAR FACT NOT SIMPLE OR CLEAR ENOUGH FOR YOU???

I'm lost. What the hell do these bastards have to do to make clear on whose side they act?

Hey, Amnesty UK was chaired by one of Blair's New Reich goons. Man, I am soooooo surprised. What the hell is wrong with you people. How dare you turn a matter of life and death for billions of people on this planet into a game of 'trainspotting'. Oh look, there's someone famous, and I was at his meeting pretending to save the planet by rubbing shoulders with another famous name I can enter in my big book of 'trainspotting'. All Blair has to fear is 'autograph hunters' and 'trainspotters'. I'm sure he's quaking in his boots at the thought.

I've read the article. The meeting served to allow the New Reich to continue its campaign to GENOCIDE Iran.

QUOTE
Nobody thought to question his assertion that any country has the right to attack any other country if it possesses WMD. He was of course referring explicitly to Iran rather than the UK or the US which actually do possess WMD, and he said without justification that Iran posed a greater threat than Iraq.
UNQUOTE

A bunch of people come together in a church in Scotland to cheer the GENOCIDE of a muslim nation that to public knowledge has never attacked a neighbour (not true, since Iran is the major partner of the US in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, of course, but we are not supposed to know that). So here we have a report of a meeting designed to drum up support for Blair's World War? Sorry, have I just walked through the looking-glass?

If being a leftie is a hobby for you, please give it up, and devote what time you have left to more purposeful pursuits like friends, family, or your life's journey. If you are political because you want the world to be a better place, for god's sake stop this game of 'trainspotting'. Do things for a real, useful purpose. If you insist on attending a New Reich meeting like the above, don't think that you achieve anything by passively reporting on it. Instead, remember that you will be face to face with some people that can be moved just as easily to your side as to Blair's, as well as others that wish they had the power today to condemn you to death as easily as Hitler's people took out their opponents in the 1940's.

When Blair strikes Iran, it will be the beginning of World War 3. This is an idea beyond the comprehension of even those that think they think about it each day. Those that feared Hitler in the 30's talked incessently about the horrors that he would bring, but none of them imagined anything anywhere near as bad as the war that followed. We will have a World War that will make the combination of EVERY act of violence carried out by humans in ALL of previous history seem like a sunny day at the seaside.

Our knowledge of the nuclear weapons held by Blair, Bush and co basically stops in the 50's. Our knowledge of chemical and biological weapons stops in the 70's. The true nature of their arsenals are outside anything that you have read. 911 saw Blair's people vapourise 2 skyscrapers with exotic explosives that turned even the chips inside computers into dust (WTC 7 was destroyed by conventional demolition explosives). There is 50 years of research into bio/nuclear/chemical weapons that has yet to be revealed. The horror of WW2 was the wholesale destruction of cities by well placed incendiary bombs. 50 years later, we exceed the murderous capabilities of that time a million-fold WITHOUT the use of nuclear weapons.

Here's a simple question. Why, given that Blair and co knew that Iraq had no (so-called) WMD did Blair have so much focus placed on that subject. (By the way, this fact is not in debate, Iraq proved that it disposed of its programs as demanded by the UN after a few years, and for the next 8+ years the UK and Israeli faked evidence for the UN to 'prove' that Iraq was still not in compliance.) The answer to my question is what is called 'the long game'. You create a 'meme' (mind seed idea) under one circumstance, for use in a circumstance yet to exist.

The WMD psy-ops about Iraq was ALWAYS created in readiness for Iran. Much crap was talked about N. Korea to distract the dim-bulb lefties. Iraq was attacked to create a bridgehead to attack Iran (whereupon the oilfields of the Middle East fall under the direct control of the West, but that is a necessity of circumstance, and NOT the point of the exercise). The media of the West was soaked with crap about WMD so that the peoples of the West, the enabling force for any of Blair's plans, would accept the notion that ANY targetted muslim nation with nuclear weapons could be 'morally' attacked by the West.

You see, Iraq had NO nuclear weapons or programs, but Iran has both (and on this Earth, at this time in history, has EVERY RIGHT to both). So Blair is able to go "whoops, I was wrong about Iraq, but I am ***RIGHT*** about Iran". His sheep, of course, have LONG forgotten why Iraq was a special case, and why Iran is no different from the UK, US, France etc etc. Lefties that deny that Iran has a nuclear weapons program are actually stating that Blair has a right to attack Iran if they do (which allows you to realise that many that advance this argument are actually Blair's own agents). Only people that state CLEARLY AND UNAMBIGUOUSLY that Iran has the rights to ANY weapons for self defense, while the same or similar are held by the US, can be seen as promoting an anti-war position. All other points of view are actually pro-Blair's attack against Iran.

The majority of US citizens (and US soldiers in Iraq) are convinced that the US attacked Iraq because of 911. It does not matter to them that even the Whitehouse itself officially admitted that this is not so. The PLANTED meme is vastly more powerful than the truth.

Sorry I'm not talking about Libya, or Begg, but those 'subjects' are really just more 'trainspotting'. Past events of total insignificance compared to what we immediately face.

Iran is to be attacked in the most sickening act of violence any living human has ever witnessed. The attack marks the beginning of everything that will rule our lives. Although Iran is to be initially genocided from the air, the strike against Iran is intended to IMMEDIATELY generate a need for an army of invasion for the rapid control of ALL middle East oil fields. This army, counter to the expectations of most lefties, will be a European one, raised by an act of mass conscription across our continent. The logic will be simple. The Middle East is really a land within the European geographic sphere, and so the Europeans will be expected to manage their own asset, thus making the extermination of the muslim peoples of the Middle East seem like family business, of no concern to the rest of the world (so long as the oil keeps flowing). Germany is chomping at the bit to provide a nuclear armed force to carry out its first invasion since WW2, and is saying this ever more loudly. France has just passed new laws to push its young people out of worthwhile employment, in readiness for REAL conscription (not the mickey mouse military service that many European nations have at the moment). People misunderstand early phase conscription, forgetting that in reality, it is quite light touch, 'persuading' kids that are already consider the military to join up. Europe could grow a VERY significant army without initially sucking up those kids who would be dead set against joining.

This empire logic is key to Blair's plans, for it allows the other powers of the Earth, especially China, Russia, and the US to formally take control of territory in the own back-yards. This land expansion, long awaited since the end of World War 2 largely froze these considerations, is designed to allow the US to actively clash with China in preparation for the real battle, and the war that EVERY major act of military planning in the US is anticipating.

The clash between the US and China will be planet destroying. IT IS INTENDED TO BE. I do not claim to have the faintest idea why Blair would seek such a thing, but then neither you or I understand the motivation of many of the worst criminals that we KNOW act daily to rape/torture and murder other humans. What I do know is that if you can seek the wicked end of one innocent human life, you can most clearly seek the end of ALL HUMAN LIFE by extension. Blair seeks the end of all human life, and at this moment in time, there is nothing that I know about that can stop him reaching the conclusion of his plans.

Hitler and Churchill and the others did not destroy the Earth, but given the fact that they had millions of times less destructive power than that which Blair will ultimately control, they did a pretty good job. Multiply WW2 by 10, and you have a horror that would give even lucifer nightmares. Blair will be multiplying by a million.

I have no hope, but then I would ONLY allow real evidence to give me hope. Why do you have hope? Blair grows his own power by the second, and has suffered not one defeat (if you think otherwise, you are not paying proper attention). Blair has taken a world biased strongly to the right, and worked it until it is dominated almost to total exclusion by ultra-right fascist regimes that each attempt to outdo each other over the speed with which they abolish the civil freedoms and rights that once defined Western Civilisation. While most schoolkids thinks that racism is the worst crime ever, most schoolkids, and their parents, think that the muslims are distinct, a growing threat, and in need of being dealt with- a paradox until we remember that Hitler dealt with the self same contradiction in his population.

The mass media is so-well co-ordinated that Blair's people can create a particular black propaganda expression one moment and GUARANTEE that those EXACT words will appear in EVERY subsequent news-broadcast, and newspaper within the hour, in EVERY nation of the West. When Blair arranged the Israeli prison slaughter, the word 'MURDER' instantaneously replaced the word 'KILLING' with reference to the racist-mass-butchering-psychopath Israeli minister that the Palestinians had previously executed for his crimes against humanity. Seems a small thing, but given the vastly larger number of palestinians murdered during clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, the pro-Israel press of the West chooses to describe deaths as 'killings'. On this occasion, however, Blair wanted to Palestinians to look like bad guys, so ordered that 'MURDER' be the word used in all news reports. The BBC reverted back to the word 'KILLING' a day later after numerous complaints demanding an explanation as to their racist use of the word 'MURDER', given that they could offer no explanation as to why they considered that ONLY Israelis could be murdered, NEVER Palestinians. The BBC famously uses the old, "whoops we slipped up" excuse that always seems to placate simple-minded lefties, especially if said by some famous person on TV in a funny voice.

So, most people hear only Blair's voice. Our voices travel very little, even when those that are supposedly with us are not actively censoring what we say (a problem you'll notice the right doesn't suffer from at all). Any attempt by anti-Blair forces to act against him are weak in the extreme, which is exactly why Blair has become so powerful. He controls what most people see, hear or read with respect to 'politics'. He controls the political forces of the UK as an effective dictator, benefitting from the charade of democracy at this time to allow his enemies to delude themselves over the absoluteness of his power. From his powerbase in the UK, he has been able to conspire with ultra-authoriatrian forces across the planet to grow the number of Blair friendly regimes to include the vast majority of powerful or influential nations. He has successfully reversed the idea that the end of the cold war meant the end of global military threats. He has used the meme of 'international terrorism' to convince people that at a time when terrorism commited by non-Western forces is at a very low level historically, 'terrorism against the West' is their main fear, and reason for thinking that military action can be justified.

You have hope because you think that if today went kinda OK, then there is a good chance that tomorrow will do the same thing. Do you know the old joke about the man that jumped from the skyscraper? "That's floor 99 and hey, I'm still doing fine... damn, floor 61 and I'm still great... wheee floor 9 and I've never felt more alive... SPLATT!!!!!!"

Gravity and momentum are a bitch. Everything I have said about Blair represent 'gravity' and 'momentum'. Everything I read on sites like this seem to be a conversation about the number of the floor we have just dropped past (the 'trainspotting' ref I made above). Sorry guys, I'm looking at the ground that is hurtling toward us and wondering why nobody seems to care that we don't have a parachute.

twilight


Ben

17.03.2006 11:34

I think the Promoted Newswire has the *potential* to be an inspired idea. If nothing else, it serves as a handy tertiary level of filtering. Being, if you *want* to, you can mute the spam.

It is as you say in its infancy and finding its feet and will of course inevitably be another source of friction (see: nothing worth having was ever easy!).

I was a bit cynical of the new hide/show comments and locking hidden posts. But, I have to say generally it has worked. I've noticed a dramatic reduction in conspiraloon activity and articles that have been genuine and controversial have been left open to topical debate (see: reason boiling down to vitriol and personal slights).

My tuppence worth.

M


She's back

17.03.2006 15:26

Good to see TWILIGHT is back and randomy HIGHLIGHTING her words again.
God bless her little COTTON socks.

the me


death wish too

20.03.2006 15:38

-Dial 'M' for... - But I guess that perhaps educating attendees at the entrance would be a good idea. Hell, I'd even help you.

I was too ashamed, I'm not really what you'd call an educator. If you'd beeen sitting next to me and winding me up then I may just have been angry enough but I doubt it.


-Ben -so draw your own conclusions ;-p

- Anyway, while I am at it,

I suspect you would be underpaid even if you were well-paid, I mean that nicely, I was only joshing before.


-Twilight - Hey, Amnesty UK was chaired by one of Blair's New Reich goons. Man, I am soooooo surprised. What the hell is wrong with you people. How dare you turn a matter of life and death for billions of people on this planet into a game of 'trainspotting'. Oh look, there's someone famous, and I was at his meeting pretending to save the planet by rubbing shoulders with another famous name I can enter in my big book of 'trainspotting'.

Yes, I guess I attended the meeting simply for my first chance to listen to a guantanamo detainee directly, if that is what you mean. I guess Moazzam Begg is famous,but then he did earn it more than say Chantelle from Big Brother.

-Twilight - If you are political because you want the world to be a better place, for god's sake stop this game of 'trainspotting'.

I'm apolitical but I would go and see a victim of Abu Ghraib if they were speaking locally, just to check them off my 'trainspotting' check-list. Now if I really wanted to name-drop I could mention I'd played football against Jinky Johnstone, but that wasn't my intention in posting. Do you drink a lot of coffee by any chance ?

-Twilight - Our knowledge of the nuclear weapons held by Blair, Bush and co basically stops in the 50's.
I've heard they are thinking of upgrading to some American system called 'Polaris; but don't say I told you so. And by the year 2000 we'll all be living in moon-bases.

-Twilight - I have no hope, but then I would ONLY allow real evidence to give me hope. Why do you have hope?

I have hope because I can prove to my own satisfaction that I have free will, which means anything is possible, or quite a lot at least. And if I have free will then there's a good chance at least a few other people still do, there is plenty evidence for that, so nothing is as inevitable as it seems. Why do you pretend not to have hope when you obviously do ? Just to wake the rest of us up ? That's nice but it's not believable, besides I think most people are either just pretending to be asleep or too weary to move.

-Twilight - "That's floor 99 and hey, I'm still doing fine... damn, floor 61 and I'm still great... wheee floor 9 and I've never felt more alive... SPLATT!!!!!!"

I'm assuming you mean that ironically but I think it shows you are scared of your own mortality. You should work on that - when we left our mothers womb we all started falling from floor 99 and there is no alternative to SPLAT!!!!!!. That doesn't mean we should murder our fellow fallers on the way down, quite the reverse. You are going to die and it will be soon enough but if it's any comfort I'm likely to go first and I would have went long ago if I thought the splat was the end of it.


-M - see: reason boiling down to vitriol and personal slights

I knew an old woman who complained that one of her lovers had threatened for years to kill himself ' but the bastard never did'. I could see her point, but hearing her tell the story I could sympathise with his death wish too.

snick


Helter Stupid

21.03.2006 09:24

snick thanks for making me eject tea through my nostrils. I hope you post more often here whether I agree with you or not.

If you want moral support on any coverage of events... and I have a camera... then drop a line of the features list "FAO: M" and I'll get back to you.

M


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